


The Once and Future Queen

by ReginaPendragon



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-20 16:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6016759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReginaPendragon/pseuds/ReginaPendragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When she fails to get into her first choice university, Regina Mills finds herself obligated to attend her late mother’s alma mater: a centuries-old private institution in Europe. Perrault University is shrouded in mystery and magic: the school is ruled over by ten elite secret societies, all of which are looking to recruit new members. When students start disappearing, Regina finds herself caught up in the investigation and discovers that she is capable of much more than she ever imagined…</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

President Rupert Gold did not like to be kept waiting. 

It had taken him a long time to work his way up to being president of Perrault University. Years of toiling in obscurity as the dean of an unpopular faculty. Decades of gazing at crystal balls and shuffling tarot cards. Ages of being laughed at for taking the prophecy seriously.

But then the great tragedy stuck. His predecessor dropped dead of a heart attack and the Board of Governors had been forced to wade through the dense text of the school charter to deal with the succession. Gold would be forever grateful to the secretary who had looked into those obscure footnotes and cross-referenced the rules of governance against the prophecy. Suddenly the twisted double-talk of the ancient document made sense. The prophecy clearly stated that the savoir of Perrault University would arrive if and only if the university president was a true believer. 

So Gold got the job, much to the chagrin of his old rivals. And now that he had the job, there wasn’t another second to waste. The school needed a savior. Too long the disparate magical factions had been fighting amongst themselves while an unknown dark force lay in wait to destroy the factions once and for all. Only a true hero could save them now. But who would it be? The only thing the wishy-washy prophecy seemed certain of was that it would be a young woman and the descendant of Camelot’s most powerful sorceress.

A knock sounded at his office door, jolting Gold out of his reverie. 

“President Gold?” It was Marco from the Board of Governors. Gold motioned him to come inside and lock the door behind him.

“Is it done?” Gold asked in a voice that was barely more than a whisper.

Marco nodded. “It is done, sir.”

“And the two girls are on their way?”

“Yes sir. But…”

Gold sighed. Marco’s moral compass had been a massive hindrance to the whole endeavour. Once this was over, Gold would have to retire him to a more comfortable position. “You still don’t approve of my methods.”

Marco’s face fell. “It’s not that, sir. I know it is for the greater good of our institution. But the Mills girl… she had her heart set on Harvard. It seems cruel to dash her dreams like this.”

“That’s where you are wrong.” Gold crossed his arms on the desk in front of him. “Miss Mills’s dreams are but a minor detail in a much larger picture. She could have the power to vanquish the darkness. Surely that is a greater need than the needs of one person.”

“But the other girl could do it too. There are some on the council who think Miss Swan has greater potential than Miss Mills…”

“And you would have us do what? Recruit just one and hope for the best? What if Miss Swan cannot save us? Then we will have lost Miss Mills for good and be no better off than we are now,” Gold pointed out. “We cannot afford to take chances. We must cover all our bases, Marco. Or else we will surely be doomed.”

“And if Miss Mills turns out to be the one to save us, what of Miss Swan? What hope of a future does she have? What hope do either of them have if only one of them can save us? What if neither of them can save us?”

“Then we wait,” Gold said simply. “We wait for the one who can.”


	2. Covert Recruit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As in the show's canon, Cora and Daniel are both deceased in this AU. Their deaths are alluded to in this chapter.

Regina Mills pulled off her glasses and laid them in their case. She could almost hear her mother’s voice in her head chiding her for “covering up her pretty eyes with those clunky plastic frames”. Cora Mills had been deceased for three years, but her stern voice was immortal: a lifetime of gentle nagging and criticism had burned itself into her surviving daughter’s head.

Yes, today was definitely a day for contacts, Regina decided. She wanted to make a good first impression, didn’t she? It was move-in day. The day that would set the tone for her entire university career. No pressure. Regina scrambled to put her lenses in – any minute now her father would be knocking apologetically on their hotel room door to ask if she was ready to go. Poor man. With Cora gone and his only daughter off to university, he was about to be left alone for the first time in his life. She almost felt sorry for him.

Sure enough, the knock came. Regina took one last look at her reflection – her makeup was immaculate and her shoulder length hair was behaving for once – and deemed herself ready. With a forced façade of calm, she gathered up the last of her belongings and went to answer the door.

“The car is waiting,” her father said in his usual soft voice. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“I think I can manage on my own. You never came with me when I went off to boarding school,” Regina reminded him. She didn’t doubt that her father loved her. He just wasn’t good at showing it. But he was proud of her. Even though she hadn’t gotten into Harvard, he was still proud of her SAT scores and her grades. Wasn’t that the same thing? Or was that just all he was capable of? Pride without love. What was the use of parental love when your parent couldn’t even say the word? Maybe it was a good thing they were about to be at opposite ends of the world. 

The drive from the hotel to the university was a short one. The gothic arches of the main buildings stood out against the skyline of the little French town, reminding all who passed through here that the university was the only reason the town existed. Regina had seen the brochures and the website, but the virtual campus tour had not prepared her for this. It was like a cathedral and a castle had been shoved together in a mishmash of conflicting architectural styles. I’ll call it Northanger Abbey meets the Chateau the Pierrefonds, she thought to herself. 

The car let Regina off outside of her dormitory: a modern brick residence, much to her relief. At least she wouldn’t be peeing in a chamber pot. A pair of senior students descended on her and helped carry her luggage inside. It all happened so fast Regina barely had time to learn their names. She felt a twinge of regret once she was left alone in her somewhat spacious double room but she pushed it to the back of her mind. With any luck, she’d be able to transfer to another school at the end of the semester – hopefully a school she actually wanted to go to. The unfairness of it still riled her. With her SAT scores, she should have gotten into any school she wanted. But instead she’d gotten rejection letters filled with vague platitudes about how close she was to getting in and backhanded hopes that she would reapply in the future. It didn’t make an ounce of sense. She had excellent grades and test scores and a list of extra-circulars a mile long. Schools should have been lining up to take her.

Regina didn’t know if her mother would be proud or disappointed. While Cora had always spoken fondly of her university days, she had also expressed the desire that her only daughter would end up at an Ivy League institution. Applying to Perrault University was an afterthought - a way of honouring her late mother. Regina never imagined that her last choice would be her only choice. Why wasn’t she good enough? Were the standards so high now that being in the top two percent of your class wasn’t good enough anymore? Regina had concluded that something she’d written in her personal essay must have sent up a red flag. She wouldn’t make that mistake again. 

But for the next few months she would have to at least go through the motions. She would buy her books and go to class. She would keep her grades up. She would try to get along with her roommate and her classmates. It would be a brief stint in academic purgatory before entering the promised Ivy League land. She could do this. She would endure.

She’d endured much in her young life. She was more than capable of enduring this.

So Regina put on a friendly face when her new roommate – a smartly-dressed, studious-looking blonde girl named Kathryn – showed up. After their orientation meeting and campus tour, Kathryn invited Regina to join her and her friends for dinner. “You look like you could use a friend,” the blonde said gamely. “I’ll introduce you around.”

Do I really look that desperate for friends? Regina wondered as she permitted Kathryn to lead the way to the school’s dining hall. Is it written all over my face? Regina had been popular in high school. She’d never had a problem making friends. But here in a new place where she didn’t know anybody she’d have to take what she could get. She could put up with a semester of being this inoffensive girl’s roommate. She could even put up with Kathryn’s equally inoffensive but terminally uninteresting friends. 

The leader of the little group was a petite brunette with an Australian accent who introduced herself as Belle. “You’re going to love it here,” Belle said enthusiastically as they sat down at a table in the corner of the cafeteria. Tonight’s special entrée was chicken parmesan and it was actually quite tasty, Regina noted. At least she could count on having decent meals for the next four months.

“Perrault is one of the most prestigious schools in the continent,” Belle went on, oblivious to the fact that Regina was barely listening. “You must have had special qualifications to get in here.”

Regina couldn’t help but scoff. None of her friends back home had ever heard of Perrault University. “For such a prestigious place you’d think they could find a better location than out in the middle of nowhere,” she remarked as she cut up her chicken.

Kathryn, Belle and the others exchanged pitying looks. 

“She has no idea, does she,” the youngest in the group, an aloof British boy who’s name Regina had already forgotten piped up. “Lucky you, Kathryn. Your roommate is a covert recruit.”

Regina frowned at the boy. He couldn’t be more than seventeen. How had he ended up here? Was he one of those child prodigies who had skipped several grades, or just someone’s obnoxious kid brother who was tagging along for the evening? “What are you talking about?” Regina demanded, covering up her uncertainly with false bravado. She turned back to Kathryn. “What is Junior prattling on about?”

“That’s not my name,” the boy started to say but Kathryn waved him off. 

“Regina… don’t take this the wrong way, but… does anyone in your family possess magical abilities?” Kathryn asked in a careful, measured tone of voice. The boy to her left was rolling his eyes but everyone else was staring at Regina.

Regina was taken aback. How could anyone possibly know about that? Unless… unless they knew about the accident. But how could they? “My mother did. But I don’t see what that has to do with anything. Unless…” Regina trailed off and gazed around at the circle of barely familiar faces surrounding her. “What. The. Hell. Don’t tell me I ended up at some Carmilla-fied version of Hogwarts.”

“Don’t be daft – Hogwarts isn’t real,” the boy pipped up again and everyone laughed.

“If it was, we would have mailed you back by owl already, Peter,” August, one of the older boys, joked. He gave young Peter a clap on the shoulder. “Ignore him, Regina. We all do.”

Regina stared at each face in turn, trying to see if they were pulling her leg. This had to be a joke. An initiation rite. Something they did to newcomers. But no one showed signs of buckling under the force of her glare. If anything, most of them looked apologetic. If they were just teasing her, surely they would have let up by now.

When Regina spoke again her voice came out light and young-sounding. “What is this place?” 

Belle smiled sympathetically and patted Regina’s hand. “Don’t worry, Regina. This school only accepts people with exceptional talent for all the different forms of magic and related fields of study. If you got in here, it’s because you’ve got the potential to be more than you are now. Not all of us have magic, but if you’re mother was a legacy… you might have the gift as well.”

“It runs in families,” Kathryn elaborated. “Some of us are here for the scholarly pursuits – not all of us are gifted. But you could be. You’ll just need to be tested first.”

Regina couldn’t believe her ears. “Tested? You don’t mean like finding hidden meaning in inkblots, do you?”

Kathryn laughed politely and shook her head. “If you really have potential, I’m sure one of the societies will recruit you. Then you won’t have to worry about a thing.”

Regina’s head was starting to spin. “The societies? What are those?”

“Secret societies. We call them the Ten. Each one is dedicated to a different field of study. They start recruiting the first week of the semester,” Belle elaborated. “It’s an honour to be chosen to join a society.”

“Not everyone makes the cut though,” Peter chimed in with a sneer. “I hope you’re prepared for a little friendly competition.”

I’m pretty sure I can beat some snot-nosed kid at whatever task they throw at me, Regina thought, but she kept it to herself. “I was a top student at my school. I’ve auditioned for plays, ran for student council and competed at dozens of equestrian events. I’m not afraid of competition, friendly or otherwise.” She smiled sweetly for emphasis but her eyes remained cold.

“As a legacy, you have a better chance than most of us to be selected,” Kathryn pointed out. “I wouldn’t worry.”

“Who’s worried?” Regina smiled again but it took more effort this time. Always be polite and smile, her mother’s voice reminded her. Even when you don’t mean it. Especially when you don’t mean it. 

Regina didn’t say much for the rest of the meal. Instead she took the time to consider her options. Could she try to make a go of things at this school? She had often wondered if any of her mother’s magical abilities had been passed down. Maybe this was a side of herself that she needed to explore.

For the first time in months, Regina allowed herself to think back to the night of the accident. Mother had picked her and Daniel up after the fall formal. It had been their second official date. After a year of exchanging shy glances in the library, he’d finally worked up the nerve to ask her out. What had started as a rainy night had given away to snow but Regina had barely noticed the cold. For the first time, she’d felt more for someone than passing friendship. It wasn’t love – not yet – but it could have been. If only they’d had the time…

Regina and Daniel had been laughing together in the backseat when the car hit a patch of black ice. Cora tried to slow down but the wheels spun out and the car drifted into the oncoming lane. The truck coming the other way honked a warning but it was too late. The crash knocked her unconscious and Daniel died on impact. When Regina came to, battered and bleeding, her mother was using the last of her strength to drag her from the wreckage before the car caught fire. Then the paramedics took over, depositing her onto a stretcher and loading her into the ambulance. In her hazy concussed mind Regina knew the truck driver must have called them. 

“You have to live on for all of us now, dear,” Cora had said before she breathed her last. “Make me proud. You’re the only one who can.”

If I really had magic I could have stopped it, Regina chided herself. If I really had magic my mother and Daniel would still be alive. 

A traitorous tear appeared in the corner of her eye but Regina willed it not to fall. She would not cry here in front of these people, these strangers. They already thought she was some clueless covert recruit. There was no need to further embarrass herself. She thanked Kathryn for inviting her to dinner and graciously excused herself, feigning tiredness from the long flight overseas. No one suspected a thing. In fact a few of the others expressed similar feelings. 

“It is getting late,” Belle agreed. “It was nice to meet you, Regina.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Regina echoed, though her mind had already drifted away. “All of you,” she added with one last weak smile. She walked away from the table with her dignity intact. She made it all the way back to the dormitory at a moderate pace that betrayed none of her inner conflict. Plenty of other students were scattered across the campus by now, coming and going from their dormitories, calling out across the quad to their friends. No one paid any attention to her as she slipped silently back into her dormitory. Only when the door was firmly locked did Regina sink down onto her bed and let the tears fall.


	3. The Oracle

Regina feigned sleep when Kathryn returned to the room but Kathryn waited around for her the next morning. “I hope my friends didn’t scare you away,” she apologized. “If I’d known you were a covert recruit I would have never thrown you into the deep end like that.”

Regina debated telling Kathryn of her plans to transfer out but decided against it. A new day had brought with it fresh potential and perspective. She could stick it out for a semester. She’d been able to get into all of her first choice classes and Regina was never one to shy away from an academic challenge. I’ll give it one semester and see where it goes, she decided. Mother would never forgive me if I didn’t at least try. So after orientation week was over, Regina put on a brave face and went to class. She had not decided on a major yet, but her course selections tended toward social sciences and the humanities. She had deliberately organized her schedule to have a lighter course load on Mondays and Fridays and she’d been savvy enough to avoid those horrible 8:00 AM classes. (She hadn’t wanted to take Intro to Philosophy anyway.) Her only regret was that Intro to Art History wasn’t until the winter semester. She planned to be gone by the winter semester so her education on fine art would have to be incomplete for now.

At least the classes were interesting. Her Classical Studies professor had spent many years on archeological digs before returning to academia and Kathryn was in her Psychology class. The only thing that proved tricky was navigating the school’s far-flung campus. Perrault University had originated as a small boarding school with one main building – the gothic edifice Regina had spotted on her first day. As the school’s reputation grew, more buildings had been constructed and nearby dwellings had been bought and converted into residence buildings and lecture halls. The result was a collection of conflicting architectural styles hidden away between patches of greenspace and parkland. Regina managed to make it to her Monday classes without incident but she wandered far and wide to find her English lecture hall on Tuesday morning. Asking for help had been fruitless. The only meaningful information Regina had been able to glean from a harried girl in the dormitory common room was that the lecture hall was “in the clearing by the oracle.”

What the hell does she mean by “the oracle”? What kind of school has an oracle? Regina wondered as she trudged down the gravel pathway. Other students seemed to be moving in the same direction, so she blended into the crowd and followed them. By some miracle they were headed to the same place she was: a Victorian-style building flanked by a garden topiary. Now convinced that the oracle comment was some sort of inside joke, Regina walked into the classroom to find it filled to the brim with eager students. Her smile froze on her face as her eyes darted around for a free seat. By some act of mercy, she caught the eye of Kathryn’s friend Belle who waved her over to where she had commandeered a little row of three desks on the right side of the classroom. At least I’ll have someone I know in this class, Regina thought as she waved back and made her way across the room to join Belle.

The perky Aussie was not alone – there was already a good-looking boy in the seat next to hers. Belle nudged him and he hastily retrieved the jacket he’d thrown over the chair next to his and gestured that the desk was free.

Regina narrowed her eyes – had he been saving that seat for someone else? She made another quick scan of the room but it was too late to sit anywhere else. The room was already nearly at capacity. But Belle was still waving her over, so Regina shrugged it off and took the desk.

“I didn’t know you were taking this class!” Belle chirped happily after Regina sat down. “I can’t believe how full it is. Robin here was just telling me that Dr. Patmore is one of the best profs in the faculty.”

Regina took another glance at the boy sitting between them. He seemed more interested in his smartphone than the class. “Is that so,” she said dryly. 

The boy looked up at her then and flashed an apologetic smile. For a moment Regina was so distracted by his handsome face and blue eyes that she forgot her earlier annoyance. “Indeed,” he said in a charming English accent. “I had her last year for her first year poetry course.” He turned his phone off and put it in his pocket. “Sorry about the mix-up with the desks. My friend Will was supposed to be joining us, but he got into his girlfriend’s Sociology class at the last minute.”

“His loss,” Belle chimed in. “My Soc class is after this one.”

“So is mine!” Regina said. “Well good. I’m glad there will be at least one person there that I know.”

The three of them continued to chat while Regina unpacked her books and stacked them on the desk in front of her. She learned that Robin was in second year, but he’d switched majors and had to backtrack and take another first-year English course to catch up. Regina admitted that she hadn’t decided on a major yet herself and both Belle and Robin were quick to reassure her. 

“You’ll know the right field for yourself when the time is right,” Belle said soothingly. “In the meantime, it doesn’t hurt to play the field and take a bit of everything.”

“I agree,” Robin chimed in. “Sometimes you might end up in a completely different place than you first imagined. But if it’s the right place then it will all be worth it in the end.”

You don’t know the half of it, Regina thought as their kind words washed over her. I’m already in a different place than I ever imagined I would be.

Professor Patmore arrived and wasted no time passing out the course syllabi and dividing the class into reading groups. Regina, Belle and Robin ended up in a group together with a boy named Frederick and a girl named Elsa. After co-ordinating their schedules, they agreed to have their required weekly study groups on Wednesday afternoons, as that proved to be the only time they could all be available. Belle offered up her dorm room as a meeting place: she had a single room so they wouldn’t have to worry about inconveniencing anyone’s roommates if they met there.   
Professor Patmore gave them their assigned readings for their next class and let them go early. Regina tried to keep an eye on Belle as everyone surged toward the back entrance of the lecture hall. She seems to have it together – she must know where the sociology class is, Regina thought shrewdly. Frederick departed in the opposite direction but Elsa stuck close to Belle and Robin held the door open for the girls when they reached it. 

Upon leaving the lecture hall, Regina wondered if the door by which she’d entered an hour earlier was the back door. The door she’d just walked out of opened up to a wide grassy lawn and clearly marked walking paths. Feeling foolish, she quickened her pace to keep up with Belle who had wandered on ahead toward a stone formation that decorated the landscape. Regina wasn’t sure what to make of it. By know she was starting to get used to the odd decorative choices that had been made around the university. It wasn’t just the topiary outside the English lecture hall. The school campus was littered with stone creations of all sizes and subject matter, but the stones she was walking toward now where unlike anything she’d seen so far. There were about ten of them: all varied in height and taller than herself, clustered in a rough oval around a weathered bronze… statue? Regina squinted, trying to decipher what it was. The statue had three sturdy legs and a globe shape in the centre. What the hell was it? Some sort of modern art? But it couldn’t be. The stones looked positively ancient. She pursed her lips in disapproval, wondering why the artist had chosen to make such an odd aesthetic choice. Instinctively she pulled her cellphone out and snapped a picture. Maybe I would understand this better if Art History was this semester, she thought glumly as she raced to catch up with Belle and the others.

“It’s an eyesore isn’t it?” Belle remarked with a chuckle.

“Dreadful,” Elsa agreed. “It’s like a wannabe mini Stonehenge.”

Robin tutted in mock disapproval. “Are you ladies speaking ill of the school oracle? I’m scandalized.” He had a playful look of surprise on his face.

“So this is oracle!” Regina realised. “Why do they call it that?”

Robin was eager to fill in the details. “It’s a bit of a local legend. Supposedly the stones were carted here after the battle of Camlann – King Arthur’s final stand,” he elaborated before they had the chance to ask. 

“And let me guess – the stones are cursed?” Regina surmised. 

Robin shook his head. “Quite the contrary. The stones were said to contain a powerful magic force that was once wielded by the sorceress Morgan Le Fay.”

Belle was listening with piqued interest. “I’ve read about King Arthur but I’ve never come across anything about these stones.”

“That’s where the local legend bit comes in,” Robin explained. “I’m a bit of an Arthurian enthusiast myself –”

“Hard not to be when you grow up in England,” Regina couldn’t help remarking.

Robin caught her eye and smiled. “Indeed. It’s only the people in the village who talk of the stones in connection with Arthur and Morgan. It’s just one of those stories that gets embellished every time a village elder passes it on to his grandkids. Oral tradition and all that.”

Regina glanced back over her shoulder at the stone circle. It certainly looked ancient enough to have been there since King Arthur’s time. But the rest of it sounded too far-fetched to be real…

Or did it? Regina knew that magic existed in the world. Her mother had had it. This university seemed to be founded on it. There was probably some truth to Robin’s little story. But as he’d said, the truth had been lost through generations and centuries of handing the story down.

“I’d like to read more about this local legend – are there any accounts in the school library?” Belle inquired, breaking through Regina’s reverie.

Robin nodded. “We have one of the finest collections of Arthurian materials of any university in Europe.” 

I might have to check that out myself, Regina thought as they continued their trek across campus. She couldn’t say why, but she was thoroughly intrigued now. It could even be a good distraction: throwing herself into a research project and finding answers long buried in some obscure text. But there would be other classes to get through first. Robin bid the girls goodbye in front of the sociology building and Belle, Regina and Elsa went inside to go to class. They stayed together for lunch and split up in different directions afterward – Regina to Spanish, Belle to History, and Elsa to Psychology. By the end of the day Regina had a list of required readings a mile long. She popped by the dining hall to grab a ricebox for dinner and settled back into the comfort of her dorm room with her favourite instrumental playlist for background noise while she commenced her studying. Regina had never been one to procrastinate when it came to schoolwork. She had her readings done and had switched over to reading for pleasure by the time Kathryn returned to the dormitory. 

“You’re a keen one,” the blonde remarked as she dropped a stack of textbooks on her desk. “I take it you didn’t check your mailbox before you settled in for the night?”

Regina looked up from her dog-eared copy of Cinder. “I haven’t checked it since orientation.” She left out the fact that the only mail she’d got since the semester had started was a photocopy of the dorm rules handout.

Kathryn frowned slightly and pulled a black envelope out of her purse. “I got this today. It’s an invitation to the recruitment party for the ten secret societies.”

“Oh!” Regina exclaimed. She’d been so caught up in coursework, new classmates and Arthurian musings that she’d forgotten all about the secret societies. “That’s good news – I hope you get in.”

“Not just me – there was an envelope in your mailbox too!” Kathryn said. “I told the secretary you’d come down to get it. Apparently you have to retrieve it directly, or else I would have brought yours too. I guess they can’t risk these invites falling into the wrong hands.” 

Regina pushed her chair away from her desk and stood up uncertainly. She had no interest in joining the societies, but what harm would it hurt to go to their initiation party? Clearly people around here took these things pretty seriously. She’d have to at least play along if she wanted any hope of fitting in. “Okay you win. I will check my mailbox.”

Sure enough, the black envelope was sitting in her mailbox when she got to the mailroom. Kathryn grinned smugly as Regina ripped into it and skimmed the text of the card inside. “‘The old castle, Saturday night after 9pm. Dress code applies. See back for details.’” Regina flipped the card over. “‘All potential recruits are required to wear a black dress or black shirt and trousers.’ What is this – a recruitment meeting or a goth convention?”

“They change the colour every year,” Kathryn said defensively.

Regina rolled her eyes. “At least I look good in black.”


	4. The Dragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally updating this story! I know it's been 84 years, please accept this shiny new chapter as an apology.

It’s amazing how one little black envelope could change your life.

It wasn’t just Kathryn who was freaking out about the recruitment party: both Belle and Elsa received invitations as well. Regina was starting to wonder how excusive these so-called secret societies were. Everywhere she went people seemed to be gossiping about the party and what they were going to wear.

No, perhaps not everyone. On Wednesday morning a girl in Regina’s Ancient Greek History class saw the invitation poking out of her notebook and started whispering jealously to the boy next to her. Later that afternoon a girl who lived across the hall from Regina and Kathryn broke down in tears in the middle of their shared hallway when she didn’t get invited. 

“She was a legacy,” Kathryn whispered once they were out of earshot.

“I don’t know what she’s so upset about,” Regina grumbled as they returned to their room after their shared psych class. “Belle told me they do another recruitment blitz in the winter semester.”

Kathryn grinned conspiratorially. “Hopefully she’ll have stopped crying by then. Have you thought about what you’re going to wear yet?”

Regina shrugged. “I’ve got plenty of black dresses.”

Kathryn shook her head. “This isn’t your standard cocktail party, Regina. You need to stand out.”

“Hard to stand out when we’re all wearing the same colour,” Regina pointed out.

“That’s why you need a killer dress!” Kathryn insisted. “There’s a store in the village that specializes in special occasion dresses. I’m going there now and I think you should come.”

Regina glanced guiltily at her watch. “I can’t go shopping now. My English reading group is meeting at Belle’s and I’m already late.”

Kathryn was dismayed but she seemed to understand. Regina wouldn’t have minded a little shopping trip but she was bound and determined not to let this secret society hysteria take over her life. So she went to her meeting and had fun in spite of herself – or at least as much fun as you could have while analysing an Edgar Allan Poe story. Belle, being the scholar that she was, had set up a bulletin board in her single room and had decorated it with a Poe poster for the occasion.

“Whoa,” Regina remarked as she took everything in. “Is this a study aid or a conspiracy board?”

The insult went over Belle’s head. She was too busy being pleased with herself and her hard work. “I find stories more memorable when I can visualize them,” she explained. Belle had printed out a copy of the story text, highlighted and covered in her scribbled notes and tacked it up as well. 

“If there was ever a time in your life that you could get away with having a conspiracy board, college would be the right time,” Robin remarked with a good-natured laugh.

“I like it,” Elsa declared. “It’s like a massive collage.”

“One thing’s for sure – I’ll have a hard time ever forgetting this story,” Frederick added.

Belle beamed at them. “That’s the idea.”

That actually makes sense, Regina thought to herself. She’d never approached her studies in such a manner – surely mother would have had an aneurism if she started tacking study aids to the walls of her childhood bedroom – but she was in college now and mother would never know. Regina was almost tempted to copy Belle’s idea just to see if she could pull it off, but she didn’t think Kathryn would appreciate having a conspiracy board in their shared common area. She was also tempted to go back on her promise to herself not to make a big deal out of the society party when she saw Kathryn’s dress.

It was more elegant than Regina had envisioned for a college party: the floaty dark fabric was draped in an elegant Grecian style and decorated with fine beading at the straps. Suddenly the classic LBD Regina was planning to wear seemed dull by comparison.

“Maybe I should have gone on that shopping trip,” she murmured as Kathryn tucked the dress back into its garment bag after showing it off.

“I’m sure Belle’s conspiracy board was much more fun,” Kathryn teased her. “It’s not too late, you know. The party isn’t until Saturday. You could run down to the village after class tomorrow and see what they still have.”

What the hell, Regina thought. Why shouldn’t I treat myself to a new dress?

“If you go, try to get Mal to pick something out for you,” Kathryn added conspiratorially. “She’s a genius when it comes to fashion. All she has to do is size you up and she can pick out the perfect dress.”

Regina doubted anyone could be that good, but she went to the specified store the next afternoon anyway. Upon entering she could tell she’d come to the right place: the medium-sized boutique was stuffed to bursting with all manner of beautiful dresses and flustered girls looking for the perfect match. It’s like stepping into an episode of Say Yes to the Dress, Regina thought to herself as she slipped between racks of swaying fabric. A short way away two girls were eying the same sequined mermaid gown. They looked about ready to duel for it. A girl could get eaten alive in a place like this if she wasn’t careful.

Some clever employee had placed all the black dresses on two racks next to the change rooms, so Regina carefully picked her way through the chaotic scene and went to work. Every dress she pulled off the rack was more beautiful than the last and no two were alike. She expected the prices to be outrageous but they weren’t overly so. After half an hour of diligent searching Regina had come up with two options: a knee-length A-line with lace detailing and a slightly shorter fitted number with a corseted top.

She was pondering her two choices when a shadow appeared behind her. “Do you need a hand, dear?” A warm voice inquired.

“Yes – could you please start me a fitting room…” Regina started to turn around and was momentarily arrested by the sight of the imposing and impeccably dressed blonde woman standing behind her. 

The woman didn’t seem to notice how flustered Regina was. “Are you done looking or is there something else you might like?” she inquired politely.

“Um… I think I’m done looking for now,” Regina stammered. Good lord, get a hold of yourself. 

“Hmm.” The woman gave Regina a quick once-over and pulled another dress off the rack. “Might as well have another option if you’re going in there anyway,” she suggested. “I think this one could be just the ticket.”

Regina glanced at the third dress as the blonde girl led her over to the change rooms. She was too terrified to say out loud that it wasn’t her usual style – she was afraid of offending her host. She had to be the owner with the way she was strutting around the place. The other shopgirls and customers seemed to shrink away from her as she passed. 

“My name is Mal – let me know if there’s anything else you need,” she said. “I just have to take care of the young lady in the room next to you.”

So this is the Mal Kathryn was talking about! She must have intimidated Kathryn into buying that fabulous dress… lord knows her sensibly-dressed roommate wouldn’t have picked that showstopper out on her own. 

The changeroom had no mirrors so Regina had to brave the chaos of the shop floor to get a proper view of the dresses in the three-way mirror. The A-line was a dud: the voluminous skirt did nothing for her figure. The dress with the corset top was far more promising in looks alone but it restricted her movement too much.

“It’s a chore, isn’t it?” a familiar voice remarked from the next room over. Regina looked up to see Elsa fumbling with the zipper of a black sequined number. “Black really isn’t my colour,” Elsa added woefully as Regina helped zip the dress up. “This is the sixth dress I’ve tried on.”

“Maybe the sixth time’s the charm,” Regina suggested as Elsa looked herself over in the mirror. “The sequins look great in this lighting.”

“Thanks – it was Mal’s suggestion,” Elsa admitted. “She said stark black would look too harsh on me. She thought the sequins would create the illusion of colour.”

Regina turned away from the mirror and caught Mal’s eye – she was helping another customer at the checkout, but something in her glance seemed to say, “Try the dress I picked out for you. I’ve never yet been wrong.”

Regina returned to her alcove and divested herself of the too-tight corset dress. Mal’s choice had a fitted bodice and a flowy high-low skirt… that much Regina could deal with. But it was the cutouts at the sides that made her nervous. The neckline of the dress wasn’t too low and the length of the skirt was enough to balance out the show of skin, but it was far out of her usual taste range otherwise.

Grudgingly Regina stepped into the dress and pulled up the zipper. The bodice fit her like a glove – tight enough to hold everything in place but not as restricting as the corset. The fabric of the skirt skimmed over Regina’s hips and fell in delicate pleats just above her knees in the front and just below them in the back. 

When she stepped out the fitting room Elsa and Mal both gasped. “I’ve outdone myself,” Mal said with a swell of pride. “You look sensational, darling.”

“It is nice, isn’t it?” Regina murmured as she took in her appearance.

“It’s more than nice!” Elsa protested. “You look amazing.”

The moment was shattered when a voice carried over from the checkout counter. “Excuse me – is anyone going to help me?”

Regina was so busy checking herself out in the mirror that she barely registered the scene taking place a few feet away. One of the shopgirls had run over to assist a haughty brunette who was now complaining that her dress alterations hadn’t been done properly.

“The party is in two days,” the girl’s Spanish accent cut into Regina’s reverie. “I’m paying you a lot of money and I expect it to be done in time!”

“Someone needs to calm down,” Regina muttered to Elsa who smiled nervously back.

The snobby girl’s head whipped around in their direction. “What did you say?”

Mal stepped in and saved Regina from having to respond. “I’ll thank you not to bother my customers.” She stepped imperiously in front of the three-way mirror and regarded the girl with an icy glare. “You were told your order wouldn’t be complete until tomorrow. You can come back then.” 

“But I’m here now!” the difficult customer persisted. “How long does it take to fix a lousy hem?”

Mal advanced on the girl with such speed that she actually took a step back. “It will be done tomorrow. No sooner.” She smoothed back her hair and fixed a humourless smile on her elegant face. “If that is unsatisfactory I suggest you take your business elsewhere.”

The other girl sniffed indignantly and crossed her arms. “Now I see why they call you the Dragon. I’m surprised this shop isn’t built on a horde of gold trinkets.” 

The girl flounced out of the shop with the door bouncing off its hinges. There was a moment of complete silence before the stunned employees and customers drifted back into their dance of selling and buying. Regina payed for the dress and drifted out of the shop in a daze. 

“See you at the party!” Mal called after her. “I’m sure the societies will be bending over backwards to recruit a girl like you.”

It wasn’t until she was back in her dormitory that Regina mulled over those parting words. Exactly what kind of a girl was she? She wasn’t even sure if she knew the answer to that question herself anymore.


	5. The Castle

“They call this place the castle?” Regina gazed dubiously up at the half-tumbled down stone wall that led to the outdoor amphitheatre where the recruiting party was being held.

For once Kathryn had no witty retort. “It looks like it’s seen better days, doesn’t it?” she said dubiously. “But knowing this place, it must have historical significance or else they would have torn it down by now.”

“What, like the oracle has historical significance?” Regina scoffed. “Morgan Le Fay wasn’t even real.”

“Some people think she was,” Kathryn chided her. “Come on, let’s get in line.”

The girls were instructed to wait just inside the arched doorway of the “castle”. “We’re only letting a few people down the stairs at a time, so wait until someone in there gives you the go-ahead,” the bored-sounding girl who took their invitations and stamped their hands said.

The crowd in the anteroom was thinning out when they arrived. A group of four or five students were being ushered down the narrow stone staircase by a person wearing a hooded robe. The only people beside Regina and Kathryn who remained were two girls: a long-haired blonde and a brunette with a pixie cut, both wearing the signature black dress uniform.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Regina muttered before raising her voice to call out to them. “Mary Margaret! Is that you?”

The girl with the pixie cut started and turned to smile at them. “Regina Mills! Long time, no see!”

Kathryn and the other blonde girl looked on as Mary Margaret drew Regina into a tight hug. Regina patted her awkwardly on the back and Mary Margaret let go. “It’s so great to see you!” Mary Margaret gushed. “I thought you were going to Harvard?” she added with a slight note of suspicion in her voice.

Regina smiled tightly. “Last minute change of plans.” She turned to Kathryn to make the introduction. “Kathryn, this is Mary Margaret Blanchard. We went to high school together. Mary, this is my roommate Kathryn.”

“We know each other actually,” Kathryn said with a tight smile of her own. “We have Intro to Philosophy together.”

“They didn’t see eye to eye on Plato,” the other girl spoke up. “I’m Emma Swan, by the way. I’m Mary’s cousin.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Regina said with a more genuine smile this time. Suddenly she was more relieved than ever that she hadn’t taken Intro to Philosophy. She could only imagine Kathryn’s level-headed, knowledge-based approach going up against Mary Margaret’s sunshine-y, happy-go-lucky persona. No wonder they’d gotten off on the wrong foot. 

A fifth voice jolted the girls out of their introductions. “Ladies. You may enter now.” The person in the creepy robe was back. “Mind your heels on the steps – this castle is older than all of us and our parents combined.”

Spare me the melodrama, Regina thought to herself as she trudged down the narrow spiral of the staircase. Heavy candles dripping with wax had been set in the wall sconces to further add to the medieval vibe. What a boring job this must be: ferrying people down the stairs all night. I hope this black robe brigade gets a decent stipend for their trouble…

The steps bottomed out and the amphitheatre came into view beyond a short series of stone arches. Unlike the gloomy castle, the open-air stadium was lit with modern lights and packed to the brim with people. Regina breathed a barely-audible sigh of relief. Maybe now she could actually have some fun.

“Good luck, ladies!” Their hooded guide called after them. “Congratulations on passing the first test!”

“First test?” Emma echoed as the girls passed under the arches and into the crowd. 

“Maybe anyone who falls down the stairs gets eliminated right off the bat,” Regina tried to joke but Mary Margaret looked scandalized. 

“There will be many tests to see if we are worthy,” she whispered. “But you might not always know you’re being tested.”

“Someone’s drunk the Kool-Aid,” Regina grumbled as they came up to the refreshments stand. 

“Someone had a gallon of it,” Emma whispered back knowingly. “She’s been talking my ear off ever since our invitations turned up. Apparently her mom was a legacy of one of the Ten. She’s really excitable about it. If she doesn’t get in, she might explode.”

“Ouch. I don’t think spontaneous human combustion is covered under the school health plan,” Regina murmured in a mock-serious tone.

Kathryn supressed a giggle and hastily rearranged her features into something more neutral. “I’m going to head that way to check out the academic societies.” Kathryn departed to the left and Mary and Emma drifted off to the right. Under the guise of pouring herself a glass of punch, Regina let her eyes drift aimlessly around the stadium. She didn’t have a clue where to start. There were displays set up all over the stadium floor and most of them already had a crowd of people gathered around hoping to be noticed by whoever had the power to grant them admission to their society of choice. Regina didn’t see the sense in it. Surely if she was a covert recruit she could have her pick of any secret society she wanted.

But maybe it didn’t work that way. Maybe she should be setting her sights on whichever society her mother had been a member of. The only problem was she didn’t even know which of the Ten her mother had belonged to. And there was only one way to find out: process of elimination. What would mother do in a situation like this? She would square her shoulders, straighten her spine and march into the party like she knew exactly where she was going and what she was going to say.

Wearing black had its advantages. Regina didn’t even have to hunt down any representatives from the societies – instead they came to her with pamphlets and enthusiastic smiles. Regina drifted around the circuit of the stadium and was stopped every few meters by hopeful faces peering out at her from behind their display tables. Her first stop was something called the Elphyne Revival – though what exactly they were reviving Regina wasn’t entirely clear on after spending nearly ten minutes talking to the perky blonde girl manning the display. Her next stop was the Architectural Guild, which was exactly what it sounded like: a guild of people who studied architecture. Regina opted to skip this one – even though she knew enough about architecture to be put off by the school’s conflicting architectural styles, she wasn’t ready to devote her life to it. But luck was on her side this evening. The harried young man behind the desk was clearly in distress and jabbering away on his cellphone.

“Anton was supposed to be here to cover the first shift with me!” Regina overheard him say as she dodged between the displays. “What do you mean you haven’t seen him since Thursday? Where could be possibly be?”

Regina managed to avoid his agitated gaze and continue on to the next booth. “‘The Lamia Sisterhood’,” she read out loud. “Ladies only, I presume?” 

The dark-haired girl behind the display nodded. “Our society traces its roots back to the suffragette movement,” she affirmed with a welcoming smile. 

Could this have been mother’s society? Regina wondered. Cora Mills hadn’t exactly been a feminist but she had possessed very specific ideas of what a woman’s place in the world should be. It was worth the risk to ask. “Do you keep records of past members by any chance?” Regina inquired. “I’ve been trying to find out which society my late mother was in…”

“We don’t give that sort of information to outsiders,” a third voice cut in. Much to Regina’s horror it was the snobby girl from the dress shop. She was now hovering by the other girl’s right side and shooting Regina a look of deepest contempt. Wonderful. Suddenly Regina didn’t want to know the truth that badly. 

“Relax Gwen – she’s not trying to dig up our darkest secrets,” the first girl said. She turned back to Regina with a welcoming smile. “What was your mother’s name?”

“Cora Mills.”

The girl opened a laptop and started typing. “We finally digitized our alumni roster last semester.” She leaned forward and frowned at the screen when the results came up. “That name isn’t coming up. Is there another name she went by?”

Regina shook her head. “She was really possessive of her family name. She even made my dad change his surname to hers when they got married.”

The girl tried the search again but nothing came up. “I’m sorry – it looks like Cora Mills wasn’t one of us,” she reported. “I hope you find her, though. Most of the other societies have their records digitized now.” She glanced around to see if Gwen was listening in and lowered her voice. “Try the Cantational Congress, the Muse Society or the Grand Symposium. They have the best records aside from us.”

“Thank you, I will.” Regina accepted a pamphlet and prepared to take her leave. “What was your name? I didn’t catch it before.”

The girl smiled. “I’m Marian.”

“And I’m Regina. Thanks for your help.” Regina returned the smile and continued on her path around the stadium. She was pleased to discover the existence of the Equestrian Coalition and she ran into Robin at the Masquerade League. She hadn’t pegged him as a secret society kind of guy and he seemed bemused when she told him as much.

“Perhaps there’s more to me than you know,” Robin teased with a hopeful flash of his blue eyes.

Well now, she thought shrewdly. Two can play that game. “Maybe there’s more to me as well,” she responded with a sly smile. “Could you help me out with something?” She caught his gaze and held it, silently praying that a bit of gentle flirting would be enough for him to take pity on her.

Robin leaned forward and rested his hands against the table. “I’d be honoured to try. What do you need?”

“I’m looking for someone. My mother was a student here years ago and I’m trying to find out which of the societies she was a member of.”

“I can definitely help you with that.” Robin gestured to her to follow him around the side of the desk. “We’ll just wait until Ruby is done hogging the computer and I’ll look her up for you.”

“Hey!” the girl named Ruby protested with a giggle. “I’m actually doing work here. Unlike some of us who are just trying to impress cute girls.” She gave Regina a knowing look.

“It’s just one quick search,” Robin started to say just as Regina remarked, “You think I’m cute? Or does your friend say that about all the girls you’ve talked to tonight?”

Robin cleared his throat and inclined his head. “I’d say cute is an inadequate word to describe you. I can see now that you’re more the audacious type.”

“Ugh, enough with the flirting!” Ruby cut in. “They don’t pay me enough to listen to you.”

“We’re volunteers – they don’t pay us anything to cover the recruitment party,” Robin said in an undertone to Regina.

“Exactly!” Ruby said triumphantly. “I’ll do the search. What’s the name you’re looking for?”

“It’s Cora Mills.”

Ruby’s gel manicured nails clicked and clacked against the keyboard as she typed. Regina snuck a glance at Robin and noticed a slight flush colouring his cheeks. She smirked triumphantly. He was a flirt, but clearly not an experienced one if he blushed that easily. It was kind of adorable. 

Ruby huffed indignantly. “There’s no Cora Mills in our records. Have you tried anywhere else?”

“I struck out at the Equestrian Coalition and the Lamia Sisterhood.”

Ruby rolled her eyes at the mention of Lamia. “Not surprising. Queen Guinevere doesn’t have a helpful bone in her body.”

“Actually it was Marian who helped me. Gwen – or Guinevere – just kind of stood around glowering.” Regina grimaced at the memory.

Robin nodded knowingly. “Marian’s an old friend of mine. I’m sure she wouldn’t lead you astray. Have you tried the Muse Society?”

“Or the Cantational Congress?” Ruby chimed in. “They’re anal about their record keeping.”

“Those were Marian’s suggestions too – I think I’ll head that way next.”

“Good luck,” Robin said earnestly. “I hope you find your mum.” 

Ruby nodded encouragingly. “And if you don’t, I hope you’ll consider the Masquerade League!” 

Regina accepted the pamphlet Ruby held out to her and continued on her way. The Cantational Congress – whatever the hell that meant – was next on the circuit. Their booth was decorated with candelabras at each end and a fine lace table cloth to cover the folding table. Regina hesitated a few feet away – what if there was a gust of wind and that vintage lace caught fire? She could have sworn she saw the candle flames flicker at the thought.

But then two people – a boy and a girl – appeared from behind a velvet curtain and motioned her forward. “Good evening!” the boy, a handsome youth of African descent, greeted her. “What brings you to the Cantational Congress?”

Regina briefly relayed her mission and the boy disappeared back behind the curtain to check the records. The girl was now talking to a few new passersby but Regina didn’t have to wait long – less than a minute later the boy reappeared and he wasn’t alone this time. Another young woman accompanied him: a tall, imperious blonde who Regina recognized instantly.

“Mal!” she exclaimed. “I had no idea you were a student here.”

Mal smiled and adjusted the little fascinator she wore over her updo. “That was the idea, dear. It’s more fun doing my recruitment research if everyone thinks I’m just a dress shop manager.”

Regina was impressed. “You certainly fooled me. I didn’t suspect a thing.”

Mal looked very pleased with herself as she presented Regina with a manila folder. “I believe I’ve found what you’re looking for.”

Regina’s keen eyes skimmed over the printout and she did a little victory jig when she saw her mother’s name written at the top. “This is it!” she exclaimed. “Cora Mills… you’ve got to be kidding me. This says she was the leader of the Cantational Congress in her senior year!”

Mal nodded. “It seems your mother was quite a force of nature.”

That’s one way of saying it, Regina thought with a grimace. “Thank you for finding this for me. My mother… she never told me much about her years here. She… passed away before she had time to tell me.”

Mal patted Regina’s hand consolingly. “My mother passed away when I was young too. Hopefully there’s something in that file that will bring you solace.”

Regina hugged the folder to her chest. “What are my chances of getting into the same society as her?”

Mal pursed her lips. “I can’t say officially. It depends on how much interest we get and how many offers you get. But off the record… I’d say your chances are better than most.”

Regina thanked Mal and drifted off in a trance, gripping the folder like a life preserver. Did she really want to follow her mother’s footsteps? Being in the same secret society as Mal wouldn’t be a hardship. Regina had already developed a fondness for the imposing blonde. But what about the other options – the equestrians, the Masquerade League, the Lamia Sisterhood? What about the Muse Society? It couldn’t hurt to have as much information as possible, she reasoned. 

So when she ran into Mary Margaret at the booth for the Muse Society she allowed her friend to babble enthusiastically about the Society and its performing arts history. Her commentary was backed up by a boy named Jefferson who pressed yet another pamphlet into Regina’s hands. But Regina barely registered any of it. The folder in her hands – so lightweight yet full of heavier meaning – started to weigh on her mind and her heart. She politely excused herself and made her way back to the dormitory. She passed various other displays – The Grand Symposium, the Royal Court, the Athenian Alliance – but her senses had clouded over with the thick fog of memory.

“Hey Regina!” Emma called out to her from the booth for the Athenian Alliance. “Leaving already?”

“I’ve got a lot to think about,” Regina murmured, more to herself than to Emma.


	6. The First Spark

Sunday passed in a blur and Monday morning was grey and overcast. When Regina dragged herself reluctantly out of bed for a late breakfast, she saw a text from Kathryn on her phone.

Kath: check your mailbox before you leave!! :O

Two exclamation marks and an emoji – it must be serious, Regina thought to herself as she got dressed. Today was definitely a light sweater and jacket sort of day and the forecast promised rain. She threw an umbrella in her backpack and dutifully trekked to the mailroom to see what Kathryn had been so worked up about.

Sure enough, it was another black envelope. Regina gritted her teeth at the sight of the missive. After a day of heavy contemplation she still hadn’t made up her mind about which society she wanted to join. She’d read the pamphlets and her mother’s file over and over until she practically had the damn things memorized but she was no closer to knowing what she wanted or which path to take.

It should be easier than this, she thought as she ripped open the envelope. I thought not getting into Harvard was a sign, so I came here. Now what do I do? How many signs can a girl expect to get in life?

The letter contained congratulations for passing the second test (what the hell was the second test?) and instructions for what to do next:

Dear Miss Mills,

We are pleased to inform you that you have passed the second test!   
But your journey does not end here: please report to the Castle at 8:00pm on Wednesday evening for your next assessment.   
You do not need to do anything to prepare.

With gratitude,  
The Institution of the Ten.

 

Regina tucked the cryptic note into the pocket of her clipboard and resolved to forget about it until she could ask Kathryn about it that afternoon when they met up for Psych class. 

“We both made it to stage three!” Kathryn whispered excitedly as they took their usual place at the front left side of the lecture hall. “Belle did too.”

“That’s great!” Regina was genuinely pleased. She’d grown fond of Kathryn and Belle over the last few weeks. “What about August and the others?”

There was an almost imperceptible shift in Kathryn’s demeanour. “August passed. So did Aurora and Killian. Peter didn’t. At least I think he didn’t. He didn’t show up to breakfast this morning.”

Regina hadn’t seen the smirking youth called Peter since orientation week and it gave her a twisted pleasure to learn that for all his tough talk the boy had struck out. “Serves him right for bragging. Is he going to hole up in his room and sulk forever now?”

Kathryn slouched in her seat and looked distressed. “That’s what August thought. He said he went going over there before class to talk to him around but he wasn’t there.”

Regina frowned. “What the hell? You’re not saying he up and left school over it.”

Kathryn shrugged. “His family’s in London. He probably just went home for a few days to brood.”

What a sore loser, Regina thought to herself as the lecture started. This whole secret society thing is shaping up to be more trouble than it’s worth. Mary Margaret’s freaking out about getting into the Muse Society, Peter’s flaked out because he didn’t pass stage two and I’m going to pieces because of my mother’s legacy here. This is all too much too soon. I need to calm the fuck down.

She retreated to the sanctuary of her dorm room after class and put on the first Bastille album as background noise for her homework. Regina’s heavier Tuesday schedule kept her distracted and on Wednesday she had her reading group to look forward to before the third test. They were working on Frankenstein for the next two weeks and Belle had redecorated her bulletin board for the occasion.

Regina attempted to ask Robin what to expect for the third test – he was already a second year member of the Masquerade League, so she figured he and had to be privy to all the secret backdoor dealing that went on behind the scenes with the Ten. He brushed her off affably, saying that the tests varied from year to year and he had no way of knowing what they’d be subjected to.

“Don’t overthink it,” he advised. “These people know what they’re looking for when they see it.”

Not feeling at all reassured, Regina and the others made their way to the Castle at 8:00pm. They were separated upon their arrival and Regina ended up in a small classroom in the building next door to the Castle with a simple multiple choice test on the desk in front of her. She breezed through the questions and was permitted to leave once she finished. Once again she’d gotten all worked up over nothing.

The tests continued for the next week – personality assessments and aptitude tests – just as benign as the multiple choice test had been. None of Regina’s comrades were eliminated during this stage, much to the relief of all. It wasn’t until the following Thursday that Regina, Elsa and Emma were called upon for an extra test that the spectre of worry started to creep back in.

“I wonder why they only called a few of us for this one,” Regina mused to Emma as they waited in the Castle anteroom for their names to be called.

“Maybe we’re extra special?” Emma suggested with a roll of her eyes.

A volunteer appeared and called Elsa’s name. Elsa left without a word, looking deeply distressed and wringing her hands as she went. Silence fell among the people left in the room. Somehow they all knew that this test would be different. Elsa did not return after her test and slowly the number of people in the room grew smaller and smaller until only Regina was left.

At last, Regina’s turn came. She followed the hooded volunteer down a short hallway and into a cavernous dimly-lit room. The room was unadorned; the walls were bare and the only pieces of furniture present were two tables: a smaller one with four unmarked wooden boxes sitting upon it and a larger one that had four people sitting behind it. Regina’s eyes darted uncertainly between the table with the boxes and the table with the people. Was that the boy from the Cantational Congress sitting there? He seemed to sense her looking and smiled. Yes, that was him. The good-looking one. The other three were women. The first two she didn’t recognize but the third… it was Mal again. Funny how she keeps popping up. 

“Come on in, Regina,” Mal said in a voice that was neither friendly nor sinister. “How are you feeling?”

“A bit nervous,” Regina admitted. And a bit let down, she added to herself. What was all the cloak and dagger secrecy for if there was no big reveal at the end? Just a table with some boxes on it. Big whoop. 

Mal smiled imperiously. “Don’t be. This is your last test, dear. I promise it will be painless. You just have to answer a few questions for us.” She turned her attention to the young man in the group and gave him the signal to proceed.

“Hello again,” he said with a smile. “I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself the other night. You can call me Emrys.”

“Emrys,” Regina repeated. The name sounded familiar but she couldn’t place it.

Emrys nodded politely and continued. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that only a small handful of your fellow recruits were called for this final test.” He paused and Regina nodded. “Would you care to wager a guess as to why you were singled out or what you might have in common with the others who were chosen?”

Regina was about to say she didn’t have a clue why she was chosen, but something gave her pause. This wasn’t like the other tests. Aside from the hooded volunteers who shunted the candidates from room to room, the people in this room made no attempts to hide their identities. And at least two of them were members of the Cantational Congress. And if the Cantational Congress had once been led by Cora Mills… “This is a test for people who might have magic!” Regina concluded.

Emrys and Mal exchanged knowing looks. “Bravo Miss Mills,” Emrys said. “You are officially more perceptive than half the field you’re competing against.”

“However,” Mal cut in, “we still need to see if you’re more powerful than the rest of the field. Your intelligence, however great it may be, will only get you so far in the study of magic.”

Regina’s emotions swung violently from elation to fear. They wanted her to do magic? Right here, right now? She shook her head and started to back away from the table. “But… I’ve never done magic before,” she murmured nervously. “I don’t even know if I can…”

“With lineage like yours, there’s a high probability that you can,” Emrys said soothingly. “There’s no need to be nervous. Many people don’t come into their full powers until they’re adults. We just need to see if you’ve got anything brewing under the surface there.” He had a kindly look to him but Regina was not reassured. She stared down at her hands, which had twisted themselves into a knot of fingers and knuckles without her even realizing it. She could practically hear mother’s shrill voice in her head: don’t fidget, Regina! Don’t let them know you’re afraid. 

She took a steadying breath before responding. It grounded her, giving her a much-needed boost of confidence. “What do I have to do?” she asked in a voice she prayed sounded braver than she felt.

Mal’s eyes glittered dangerously. “The test is quite simple, dear: all you have to do is pick a box.”

Regina glanced over her shoulder at the table of boxes. They looked ordinary enough but she wasn’t fooled. “What’s the catch? Is there a scorpion in one of them? Is it a portal to another dimension?” Maybe that’s why the others didn’t come back after the test, she thought suddenly. Maybe they got poisoned or flung into space…

“There’s no trick to it,” Emrys insisted. He still looked friendly, but the other three were unamused. “Just… pick the one that speaks to you.”

Regina sighed and walked over to the table with the boxes. They were identical in size and all made of polished wood. The boxes had no locks or distinguishing marks. Just hinged lids and copper trim. “How do I know which box is the right one?” she wondered out loud. There has to be a trick. Otherwise what was the point of the exercise? 

“You’ll know,” Mal said. “Trust your instincts.”

Regina looked at the boxes again. A more thorough investigation proved that they were not all identical after all: the first one in the row was slightly smaller than the others. Regina ran her hands over the lid, trying to discern what made it different. “Am I allowed to pick them up?” she asked. Someone at the table responded affirmatively and Regina picked the box up. “It’s light,” she murmured. Much lighter than a heavy wooden box should be. Maybe it wasn’t wooden at all? Maybe it was some cheap man-made material painted and distressed to look like real wood. What a gyp. She put the box down. I don’t trust this one, she thought to herself. It’s not what it appears to be.

The next box in the row was heavy: it pitched to the left in Regina’s arms when she tried to lift it and then it careened back to the right, throwing her off balance. What the hell? She mused. It feels like it’s full of water. But it can’t be. Water would damage the wood. It’s not leaking either. It’s just… off-balance somehow. Weird. I don’t trust this one either. It doesn’t feel natural. She put it down and stepped away. 

Regina didn’t dare glance up at the audience when she picked up the third box. They must think I’ve lost my mind, she fretted. I wonder how long it took everyone else to decide? The third box was heavier than the first but slightly lighter than the second. It didn’t slosh around the way the second box had: it felt stable in her hands and she didn’t feel the same sense of alien wrongness when she held it, but it didn’t feel completely right either. If this were a multiple choice exam, this box would be second best option, she concluded. Which only leaves one…

The fourth and final box was the smallest of the lot. This is my last chance, Regina thought. If this one doesn’t feel right, I’m in big trouble. As she hovered her hands over the top of the bolt she felt a surge of heat rise up to meet her. Calm down, she schooled herself. It’s just a stupid box. She picked the box up gingerly and the warmth started to spread from the palms of her hands up her arms and toward her heart and brain. But Regina wasn’t afraid. It’s cold in this old castle, she thought as she cradled the box in her arms. The heat’s actually kind of nice. I wonder if there’s a power source inside… she set the box down again and looked up to see the four committee members watching her expectantly. “I’m choosing this one,” she said decidedly. “Can I open it now?”

“Go ahead,” Mal nodded. “Let’s see what you chose.”

Regina trailed her tentative fingers along the lid of the box. For curiosity’s sake, she touched the second last box one more time. She even tried touching both at once, one hand on each. Finally she stopped stalling and lifted the lid of the fourth and final box. Trying not to look too eager, she leaned over the table and peered inside.

The box was empty.

“What the hell?” Regina murmured between clenched teeth. She screwed her eyes shut and shook her head. This can’t be happening. I can’t have gone through all that to find a shitty empty box at the end of it all. She exhaled loudly and let her eyes fall open again. There was a something shining at the bottom of the box – a light? She hadn’t noticed it before. My eyes must have been playing tricks on me, she mused. This silly guessing game has clearly gone to my head. But as she leaned over the table again, the light sparked upwards, spiking like a candle flame in the wind. Regina shrieked and covered her face with her hands. “I thought you said this wasn’t a trick!” she gasped as the box continued to spit flames and sparks at her. 

“Oh, calm down!” Mal chortled as Regina continued to shield her eyes from the flaming box. “It can’t hurt you, dear. It’s part of you.”

“Look at your hands, Regina,” Emrys insisted. “Don’t be afraid. You chose well.”

Regina, still in shock from having the box all but explode in front of her, let her hands fall away from her face only to realize the magical flames were already licking her skin. She yelped, anticipating pain, but it never came. Instead the fire crackled merrily in her cupped palms, casting a light onto her stunned face as the room beyond was cast into shadows. “What is this?” she marvelled. 

“It’s magic, you silly goose!” Mal trilled triumphantly. “You’re a fire-mage!”

Regina goggled at her. “I’m a what now?”

Emrys jumped in with an explanation. “Every magic user has a chosen element, Regina: air, water, earth or fire. Today, the fire called to you. It’s where your power springs from. That’s why all the other elements felt so foreign to you. With time – and training – you’ll learn how to use your chosen element to your advantage.”

“I can’t believe it,” she murmured, still mesmerized by the handful of flames she carried. “I had no idea I could do this.”

“We magic users have to fly under the radar,” Mal elaborated. “That’s probably why your mother didn’t tell you about it. I’m sure she would have when you were older and your powers started to manifest.”

As cool as it was to have power over fire, Regina was starting to sweat under their scrutiny. “Not to put a dampener on things, but how to I turn it off?” she asked. “Do I just… smother it?” She pressed her hands together, effectively sandwiching the flames between them and turning her left palm to the right and her right palm to the left. The heat died almost immediately and when Regina pulled her hands apart again the fire was gone. “Oh,” she said sheepishly. “That’s just… weird.” She shook out her hands as if to check that all the fire was gone. A few sparks went up but the flames did not rekindle. 

The committee members looked impressed. “Most newbies just drop it back into the box and close the lid as quickly as they can,” Mal remarked. “You show tremendous control for someone of your skill level.”

Regina was still so baffled by everything she’d just witnessed, all she could manage to say was a shaky “Thanks?” 

“We should be thanking you,” Emrys insisted. “We’ll be announcing the results of the testing in a few days, but it’s safe to tell you now that you’ve passed your final test with flying colours. You, young lady, are now a witch-in-training.”

It felt strange to be called young lady by a boy who didn’t look any older than she did, but Regina felt her heart leap nonetheless. “Does this mean I got into the Cantational Congress?” 

Mal and Emrys exchanged a quick look before Mal spoke up “Not quite, dear,” Mal responded. “We’re putting you on our recruitment list, but if there’s another society that wants you, we’ll have to negotiate with them.”

Any other society would have a hard time negotiating with raw unfettered magic, Regina thought triumphantly. I’m as good as chosen. They’re just following procedure until they can make it official. “Thank you for seeing me,” she said graciously. Mother would be proud, she thought to herself. I’m finally figuring things out.

Regina glided back to her dormitory in a dreamlike state. Magic was real. Magic was real and she had it. And she wasn’t going to be like some whiney girl in a YA novel who only wants to be ordinary after discovering she possessed extraordinary powers. The fire was a part of her. Maybe it had always been a part of her. Maybe it had been protecting her all along and she’d never even realized. Whatever it was, it was hers. And she intended to learn how to use it.


	7. The Muse Society

Kathryn eyed Regina with trepidation when she returned to the dormitory after the final test. Kathryn was no fool. Her shrewd gaze burned with questions – questions she didn’t dare ask because she seemed to intuitively know that Regina had been sworn to secrecy about the final test. Regina felt a pang of regret, but she pushed it aside. She’ll find out what’s up when I get into the Cantational Congress, she reasoned with herself. I won’t be able to keep my magic a secret after that.

She wondered if her friends would see her differently now. For them, magic was an abstract concept: it was something you read about in books, not something anyone could actually do. The idea of magic wasn’t so strange, but how would they react when they learned Regina could shoot sparks out of her fingers? Would they be intrigued? Weirded out? Terrified? Or was it Regina herself feeling intrigued, weirded out and terrified. Hmm. Yes, perhaps the second one. Regina was too excited to get much sleep that night and she paid for it the next morning when she slept in and was late for her English lecture. Belle had saved her a seat, which Regina accepted gratefully but not without the disapproving glare of Professor Patmore from the lectern. 

“She hates when people are late for her class,” Belle told her afterward while they were walking in the direction of the library. “Are you okay? I know you wouldn’t be late for class unless you had a really good reason.” Belle eyed her with the same worried look Kathryn had given her the night before. “I’m sure your last test was fine.” Belle’s voice was sunny as usual, but the sentiment didn’t quite match her worried eyes. 

“Just a poor night’s sleep.” Regina brushed it off and adjusted her backpack. “I’ll be able to rest better once they announce which societies want us.”

Belle nodded knowingly. “I hate waiting,” she admitted with an embarrassed little pout. “But all will be revealed soon – right Robin?” She turned to the older boy for confirmation. Of course he would know, Regina thought. He went through this whole process last year. 

“I’ll wager you girls will have letters in your mailboxes by the end of the day,” Robin reassured them. “Last year they had one final gathering at the amphitheatre to announce the assignments. I imagine they’ll do something similar this year.” His eyes twinkled knowingly.

Robin’s prediction proved true: another black envelope awaited Regina when she stopped by the mailroom after class. “Just how I wanted to spend my Saturday night: waiting with bated breath for them to tell me what I already know,” she muttered to her empty dorm room. “And the all black dress code is still in effect.” Oh well, she added silently. At least I look hot in that dress.

But the heat on that fateful Saturday night would be of a different kind. The air was less celebratory than the previous party and more sombre. It was a warm night – unseasonably so. Regina could feel herself start to sweat the moment she reached the bottom of the Castle’s spiral staircase. All of Regina’s friends – Kathryn, Belle, Emma, Mary, Elsa and the others – had advanced through the levels of testing but the overall number of potential inductees had dwindled considerably. They milled about aimlessly on the floor of the amphitheatre and gradually the girls found each other. They bunched together in a loose knot, shuffling nervously in their high heels, smiling but not talking. A group of boys that included Frederick stood nearby doing likewise. There was a table of refreshments set up once again and Regina poured herself a glass of punch just to have something to do with her hands. Get a grip, she chided herself in her head. You’ve made it this far. Mother would be proud of you.

The stray thought nearly made her drop her cup. Mother would be proud. Seeing her only daughter join the secret society she was once president of… but Cora Mills wasn’t here. Cora Mills would never see her daughter grow up. But she would be proud. She’d be proud that her daughter turned out to be just like her.

Regina pushed the thought away and rejoined her friends just as the loudspeaker piped up to announce that the societies would finally be confirming their recruits. The party attendees turned their attention toward the makeshift stage at the left side of the amphitheatre, where the leaders of each of the Ten had gathered onstage. “Before we begin,” the blond man from the Muse Society started, “we have a special announcement to make.” He stepped back to let Mal and a dark-haired man Regina didn’t recognize speak into the microphone. 

“We have an impressive group of recruits this year,” the dark-haired man said, showing off his English accent. 

“So impressive in fact that two of our inductees were wanted by multiple societies,” Mal chimed in with a fiendish smile. “In the interest of fairness, if you are wanted by more than one of the Ten, you will be invited up onstage at the end of the evening to make the final choice.”

No problem there, Regina thought. If more than one society wants me, I know which one I’ll choose.

From there the proceedings unfolded in an efficient manner: inductees were called alphabetically by surname and their new factions welcomed them with open arms. Belle, August and Kathryn were all accepted into the Grand Symposium. Mary Margaret got her coveted spot in the Muse Society. And Elsa was granted entry into the Cantational Congress. 

Looks like I’ll be getting to know Elsa better if we’re going to be teammates, Regina thought as the nervous-looking girl crossed the stage to join Mal and her group. God, she looks scared stiff. Poor thing. Maybe she’ll warm up now that she’s among other people like her. Other people with magic. People like me.

They were getting through the alphabet and the number of candidates was dwindling. Regina heard the name Nolan called and she gave a little start. Mills comes before Nolan. Why did they skip me… oh, wait. I must be one of the lucky few who were wanted by more than one society. She forced herself to be calm as they announced more names. Finally it was down to just Regina and Emma, much to Regina’s surprise. Well, well, she thought. Mary Margaret’s cousin must be more special than I thought. 

Regina and Emma were called up to the stage. By now almost everyone had cleared off, disappearing behind a curtain backstage with their new teammates. But a few of the group leaders remained: Mal from the Cantational Congress, the dark-haired man with the accent from the Royal Court, the blond man from the Muse Society and another man Regina had never seen before. He also had dark hair and light eyes like the man from the Royalty Court but he seemed more hospitable. He gave the girls a smile and nod as they took their places onstage and even in her nervousness, Regina thought she saw Emma smile back.

“You ladies are rare specimens indeed,” the man from the Royalty Court said with a smile that was meant to be inviting, but it only made Regina suspicious. She didn’t feel welcome: she felt like she was being sized up by a museum curator who wanted a pretty new piece for his collection. She forced herself to smile back. She could practically hear mother’s voice in her head ordering her to smile and not to give her true feelings away. “It’s not every year that we have an initiate wanted by more than one society. Let alone… five.”

Emma’s eyes went wide. “Five societies? That’s crazy.”

The dark-haired man looked scandalized. “Indeed?” His faux-friendly expression dissipated and was replaced by a sneer of disdain. “Perhaps we’ll get you out of the way first, Miss Swan.”

Emma, for her part, appeared to be over the entire process. She yawned indelicately, barely bothering to cover her mouth with her hand. “Go ahead,” she said. “I’m ready.”

One of the other society leaders, the blond man from the Muse Society, brought out a painted cardboard box with a slit in the top just wide enough to fit a hand through. “Emma Swan: you have been invited to join one of the following five societies: the Athenian Alliance, the Cantational Congress, the Elphyne Revival, the Lamia Sisterhood or the Masquerade League. In this box you will find invitations for each of these five societies. All you have to do is put your hand in and choose your fate.”

That sobered her up. Emma’s bored expression shifted from one of disinterest to something more accusatory. “So… I don’t get my first choice?” She looked up to the group leaders for confirmation. “That doesn’t seem very fair.”

Regina was about to jump in and agree but the collective look of disapproval on the society leaders’ faces stopped her. If this was their ancient tradition, who was she to stand in the way? Surely Regina could rely on her magic to make the right choice when the time came. She remembered picking up the boxes during the final test and how the box with the fire had felt right. I can do that again, she realized. I can pick the invitation that feels right. It’s just another test. Emma has magic too, she must know how it should feel. She felt a surge of annoyance for the other girl. Just hurry up and pick already! Then we can all move on with our lives. 

Regina schooled herself into a neutral expression while Emma slipped her hand into the box. She didn’t want the society leaders to think she was as uppity as Emma. She’d respect their traditions in this because tomorrow it wouldn’t matter. She’d be with her people at last.

“The Athenian Alliance!” Emma read off the invitation. “Oh, thank God. That was the one I wanted!”

“And we’re happy to have you,” the other man in the group, the one who had smiled at Emma earlier, spoke up. The look of relief on Emma’s face was undeniable. She gratefully took her new group leader’s arm and disappeared behind the curtain at the back of the stage. Well good, Regina thought. She got exactly what she wanted. That bodes well for me. Though it is strange that she has magic and didn’t want to get into the Congress. But whatever. That was her business. Maybe her magic wasn’t strong enough. Who knows? Who cares. She got what she wanted in the end. Everything will work out.

Regina waited alone onstage, still looking composed and ready: the picture of deportment and politeness. The man from the Muse Society produced another box and motioned her forward. “Regina Mills: you have been invited to join one of the following five societies: the Cantational Congress, the Equestrian Coalition, the Grand Symposium, the Masquerade League and the Muse Society. In this box you will find invitations for each of these five societies. All you have to do is put your hand in and choose your fate.” This time he shuffled the box in his hands before offering it to her. It was a playful gesture, meant to reassure, but it made Regina hesitate with her hand hovering above the box. Something felt different this time. Something… off. The way he was grinning was off-putting. She looked up to see Mal smiling tightly and the man from the Royalty Court looking bored. Regina frowned slightly and lowered her hand into the box. The papers brushed against her clammy fingers and she nearly yanked her hand out again without picking anything. It all felt wrong – not the same wrongness she’d felt during her magical evaluations but a different kind of wrong. Not merely wrong, like a superfluous, misleading option on a multiple choice test but Wrong with a capital W. 

Desperate, Regina groped the papers with a trembling hand. There were five invitations sure enough, but each and every one of them felt Wrong. There was no magic here: only profound Wrongness. As if none of the five choices were correct. But how could that be? She was counting on her magic to guide her to the Cantational Congress…

“Miss Mills?” the man from the Royalty Court spoke up. “We don’t have all night. You must choose. Now.”

The finality of his tone sent a warning bell through her brain. This was all Wrong. This place, these people… no, maybe not Mal. Mal still felt right. But the men… they were up to something. Regina had never considered herself the superstitious type, but every so often she would get a vibes from people. Was that what she was feeling now? In her confusion, her fingers closed around one of the pieces of paper and she drew it out so hastily she snared it on the corner of the cutout. The invitation ripped in half but it was still readable. And it was not an invitation to the Cantational Congress.  
It was an invitation to the Muse Society.

The last thing she saw before being ushered backstage was the look of undulating anger on Mal’s face. She knew. She had to know about the Wrongness. But what could she do? How could she explain the Wrongness to the others… could they feel it too? Or could she and Regina only feel it because they had magic? The feeling lingered in her hand where she still clutched the torn page and it started to crawl up her arm in little skittering steps like an insect she couldn’t brush off. She shook her hand in desperation to keep herself from crying out and the invitation fell somewhere in the darkness. Regina heard a crunch – the sound of her shoe coming down on the crumpled paper – and the crawling sensation came to a merciful halt. But the cloying Wrongness of her situation did not fade. This wasn’t right. She wasn’t supposed to be here.

Her guide came to a dead stop in front of her and Regina nearly walked into him. Their journey hadn’t taken them very far – only back to the base of the hill where the ruins of the Castle stood – but it felt like they’d been walking for hours. A group of people waited – other members of the Muse Society no doubt. Mary Margaret’s face in the crowd only confirmed it. Her green eyes were round with shock when Regina spotted her. What are you doing here? She mouthed. Regina shook her head in reply and made a gesture of confusion. What the hell was she doing here? 

“Attention everyone!” the blond-haired man addressed the group and they all turned to him to listen. “We have another inductee: Miss Regina Mills. She was very in demand, so we’re lucky to have her.”

The rest of the group clapped and a few of the boys whistled appreciatively. Regina plastered a smile on her face but on the inside all she wanted was for the earth to open up and swallow her. The boy in charge, whose name she soon learned was Victor, wasted no time on pleasantries. The Muse Society had been chosen to host the first society mixer of the semester – a party to be held one week from tonight. He also went around and assigned each of the inductees an upper-year student to be their mentor and guide while they acclimatised to their new position in the society. Regina was assigned to a boy named Jefferson but they barely had the time to exchange more than a few words before Victor gathered the masses and started to lead them back to the Muse Society’s headquarters. 

It was all happening too fast. The Wrongness still lingered in the air, making Regina slow her steps and fall to the back of the group. She couldn’t go with these people. They weren’t even her people, for God’s sake. She was supposed to be with the Cantational Congress. She was supposed to be learning magic. What was the point of having magic if she’d never learn how to use it? What would mother say?

The thought of her mother stopped Regina dead in her tracks. Mother wouldn’t stand for this. Oh no. Mother wouldn’t take no for an answer. Screw tradition. Mother would beg, borrow, steal or kill to get to the place she belonged. Regina would have to take a page out of mother’s book if she was to get what she wanted. She turned away from the group when they reached the top of the hill and started back toward her dormitory. It was a dark night and her black dress made her little more than a smudge on the horizon. But her mentor’s eyes were keen. Jefferson caught up with her before she had a chance to make it more than a few feet.

“The Muse Society headquarters is that way,” he said in a low but gentle voice. “We wouldn’t want you to get lost out there…”

He reached out to take her hand but Regina jerked away from him. “I’m not going anywhere with you people. You tricked me.”

Jefferson blinked in confusion. “How exactly did we trick you? You chose our invitation out of the box, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t have a choice!” Her voice came out much louder than she intended and Jefferson stepped back in alarm. Be careful dear, mother’s voice warned her. This boy could be an ally. Don’t scare him off just yet. “I shouldn’t be here,” Regina insisted, shaking her head as if trying to wake from a nightmare. “I have magic. I’m supposed to be with the Cantational Congress.” She sniffed and looked her would-be mentor in the eye. He has nice eyes, she noticed. Blue-green and shrewd. And an air of being cleverer than anyone gives him credit for. Maybe he could be useful. “This was all a mistake,” she went on. “Maybe if I could just… talk to the council or whatever they could put me in the right place…” She looked up at him with big sad eyes, praying he would take pity on a poor distraught girl. 

Jefferson’s expression softened and she fought to keep her face in check. Boys were so simple sometimes. All they really needed was to feel useful, especially if there was a girl in a vicinity to impress. “I don’t know about the council,” he said slowly. “They only deal in matters of misconduct that can be proven. But… if this is about magic…” he lowered his voice, even though the others were well out of earshot. “Have you read everything in your student handbook?” he asked, his tone of voice suddenly changing to something more business-like.

What the hell does the student handbook have to do with anything? She wondered. The damn thing was a brick. She’d read the relevant bits but she hadn’t read it cover to cover. “I read some of it,” she admitted grudgingly. Normally she couldn’t resist reading whatever book was under her nose but the student handbook had bored her to tears. But if there was something in it that could help her…

Jefferson cleared his throat and shuffled from one foot to the other. “Be sure to check the appendices at the end,” he said nonchalantly. “There might be something relevant to your interests in the footnotes,” he added, lowering his voice to a whisper.

“Huh.” Regina cocked her head, trying to size him up. If he was trying to be helpful, he had an odd way of doing it. “Thanks for that.” She turned around and started to walk away so he couldn’t see her rolling her eyes.

Jefferson took the bait and ran after her. “Hold on a minute. I’m supposed to take you back to the Muse Society headquarters for the official welcome ceremony…”

Regina turned her head to give him a withering look. “If you think I’m going anywhere with you tonight you’re dreaming. You can tell Victor, or whatever his name is, that I was feeling sick and went back to my dorm to sleep it off.” She coughed theatrically for emphasis.

Finally Jefferson seemed to get it. “Of course. You do seem a little out of sorts. A good night’s sleep should put you to rights.” He winked. He wasn’t fooled at all but he was letting her go anyway. Lucky me. Maybe he’ll be an ally after all, Regina thought. She turned away and kept walking, maintaining a brisk pace all the way back to her dormitory, ignoring everyone who crossed her path. The student handbook was shoved in the darkest corner of her bookshelf, forcing Regina to wrench it out. She nearly sliced her finger open on the sharp pages when she flipped to the back. To her horror, there were pages and pages of footnotes. Damn it! Would it have killed Jefferson to be a little more specific?

When Kathryn returned an hour later, Regina was sprawled out on the couch in the common area, skimming relentlessly through the damn handbook. With a disaffected sigh, Kathryn nudged Regina’s legs aside and sat down next to her. “What the hell happened to you? Please tell me you’re not having some sort of breakdown. I cannot have a madwoman for a roommate.” She said it in jest but Regina glared at her anyway. “Whoa. Seriously Regina, what’s up? I figured you’d be out all night howling at the moon or whatever you magic users do.”

So Kathryn knew. Of course she hadn’t been fooled by Regina’s secrecy. Kathryn was smart, of course she had the brains to put two and two together. Regina dumped the book on the coffee table, cursing under her breath. “I didn’t get into the damn Cantational Congress, okay? I was wanted by more than one society so I had to pull a name out of a box and I pulled the Muse Society.”

Kathryn made a noise of distaste. “That’s bullshit. You’re a… wait, what is the correct term? Witch? Sorceress? Magician? Whatever it is… shouldn’t that count for something?”

“Don’t ask me. I don’t know that the politically correct term is.” Regina scowled at the handbook. “The guy they assigned to be my mentor said there was something in the footnotes of this stupid book that could help me, but I haven’t found it yet.”

Kathryn snapped her fingers. “Of course! The footnotes!” She picked up the book and flipped to the very last page. “Your mentor must have been talking about the special circumstances clause.”

“The what now?” Regina stared as her roommate re-read the final footnote and turned the book around to show it to her. “‘In the instance that a student with magical abilities is accepted to a secret society that does not practice magic, the student may still receive training from a certified magic user!’” she read triumphantly. “All I have to do is find someone who can teach me. And I think I know just the person.” She looked up at Kathryn, eyes wide with wonder. “How did you know about this? Did you… actually read the whole thing?”

Kathryn blushed and diverted her gaze, suddenly becoming very interested in the plaid pattern of the blanket tossed over the back of the couch. “I thought it might come in handy someday. These old institutions always have footnotes and loopholes. I thought it prudent to educate myself.”

Regina marvelled at her. How fortunate am I to have a roommate who’s even smarter than me? “You’re a genius, Kathryn. You may very well have just saved my ass. Thank you.”

Kathryn was utterly bewildered when Regina pulled her into a hug. “All I did was read the stupid handbook…”

Regina shook her head. “All you did was prove that you’re brilliant. And now… now I have to prove myself too.”

****

Mal stared her down but Regina refused to be intimidated. She was standing in the foyer of the Cantational Congress headquarters – a rambling Victorian house located halfway across campus from Regina’s dorm – the morning after the disastrous society party. She’d worn her glasses today in a play for sympathy, but Mal’s face was still impassive. “Oh Regina,” Mal sighed, giving her head a little shake. “I can’t go against the Institution of the Ten and just recruit you out from under the Muse Society. As much as I’d love to put Victor in his place, it would be a violation of our most sacred traditions. I know it’s unfair but even if you could launch some sort of protest, the Muse Society isn’t going to let you go that easily…”

“I’m not asking you to recruit me.” Regina fought the urge to play with her glasses. She hadn’t been wearing them lately and they almost felt foreign on her face. But they made her look younger and more vulnerable, so they were essential to the task at hand. “I’m just asking you about the final footnote in the student handbook. The one that says any student with magic is still able to receive magic lessons even if they aren’t chosen for a society that deals in magic.”

Mal’s expression changed in an instant. “Indeed. My goodness, you are a clever one. Trying to get the best of both worlds, eh?” She smiled, bearing her teeth. “I’m so relieved. You have tremendous potential, my dear. A person with your talents needs to be nurtured. The Muse Society may have gotten its hooks into you, but I’ll be damned if we let your talents go to waste.”

Regina was flabbergasted. Could it really be this easy? “So you’ll train me?”

Mal’s smile grew wider. “Oh, I’ll train you all right. But I’ll need you to do a little something for me in return.”

Of course there was a catch. But Regina was undeterred. “Name it,” she said in her most confident voice.

Mal dipped her chin in an elegant nod. “I need you to convince Emma Swan to come train with us as well. She’s another young lady with magical potential. She didn’t score as high as you or Elsa on the final test, but it makes sense for us magic users to stick together.”

Is that all? “Consider it done.”

Mal raised a heavily arched eyebrow. “Confidence. I like it.” 

Regina smiled back, schooling her features to appear more self-assured than she felt. “I won’t let you down,” she promised. Convince another girl with magic to take magic lessons? This’ll be a walk in the park.


	8. Magic or Mayhem

Regina thought convincing Emma to train with her would be easy. What girl wouldn’t want to learn magic? She reasoned. Every girl wants to take ownership of the power inside her and reach her full potential. It’s the 21st century, damn it! If a girl’s still afraid of her own power in this modern age, then what’s the point?

But Emma was deeply skeptical when Regina approached her. Mary Margaret had mercifully left their shared dorm room, shooting Regina a suspicious look over her shoulder as she retreated. Emma looked even more uncomfortable once her cousin was gone and wasted no time letting her displeasure be known. “Let me get this straight: you want me to join you for magic lessons with Mal?” Emma’s eyebrows were raised so high Regina wondered if her forehead muscles hurt. “But… why me? I don’t even like magic.”

Regina was so taken aback by Emma’s reaction that she stumbled over her words. “You’ll have to ask Mal,” she managed to say. “She’s very keen on making sure everyone who has magic gets the proper training, even if we didn’t get into the Cantational Congress.”

Emma wasn’t buying it. “I talked to Elsa yesterday, you know. She made a point of telling me who scored highest on the magic test. I don’t know if you’re aware, but let me tell you: you and Elsa outscored me. In fact… Elsa’s score was one of the highest they’ve ever had. And the girl who came in fourth was practically tied with me. I’m not some magical prodigy like you guys. I made the wind blow around. I didn’t hold fire in my bare hands or turn water into ice. The other girl, Anastasia? She grew a flower out of a box of earth. And who knows what Mal can do.” Emma shivered. “Magic… it just isn’t for me. I don’t want to do any of those things. I want to learn how to use a sword and how to defend myself and that’s exactly what I’m going to learn in the Athenian Alliance.”

So that’s what the Athenian Alliance does: combat training. Regina filed that piece of information away for later use. “Maybe magic is just another type of weapon,” she suggested. If Emma’s interest lies in the way of self-defence, maybe I can still turn this around. I just need to convince her that she can do both. 

Emma’s eyes narrowed. “Or maybe magic is a disaster waiting to happen.” She turned away from Regina and marched over to the open window in the corner of her room. “You see this?” She jerked her head in the direction of the window.

“Yeah.” Does this girl think I’m blind? And why in the world would she have the window open on a day as cool as this one? The warm weather they’d had on the night of the society party had been chased away by the ominous dark clouds that now blanketed the campus. Regina had kept her arms crossed during the entire conversation – not ideal posture for making negotiations, but she had to preserve her own body heat somehow.

“This window was closed when I went to bed last night. I had a dream that I was back in that stupid crumbling castle with those boxes and when I woke up this morning, the window was wide open. This is what magic does, Mills. I kept dreaming about the wind and then this morning I wake up to a gust of freezing cold air. So tell me: what person in their right mind would want to be able to do more magic after a stunt like this?”

“At least it’s just wind,” Regina reasoned. “I’ve been afraid that I’ll wake up and find my dorm room on fire.”

Emma was unmoved. “I know what you’re doing, Mills. You’re acting like I’d be doing myself a favour by conquering this power within me, but that’s not why you’re here. If your firepower is so great, Mal would be bending over backwards to teach you. But instead she sent you to me. She’s manipulating you to get the both of us under her spell. You’re only doing this because you want magic lessons for yourself. You’re not doing this because you suddenly care about me. You don’t even know me.”

I almost don’t want to with that attitude of yours, Regina thought with an inward scowl. No, she didn’t know Emma. But she did know Mary Margaret. And if that look on her face earlier meant what Regina thought it meant… 

“You’re right, Swan. This isn’t about you. But it’s not about me either.” She stepped closer and uncrossed her arms in a gesture of surrender. “I may not know you, but I do know your cousin.”

A half smile quirked Emma’s upper lip. “Not as well as I do.”

“True,” Regina conceded, “but she’s my friend. And she cares about you a great deal. What does she think about all of this?”

“About the magic?” Emma’s voice was softer this time and Regina knew she’d struck the right nerve. Emma’s earlier bravado fell away, leaving her with hunched shoulders and worried eyes. “She’s scared for me,” Emma admitted, her hands playing with the light fabric of the window curtains. “Or maybe she’s scared of me. I don’t know which anymore.”

“And you don’t want to train your magic because you’re afraid she’ll be afraid of you,” Regina concluded. “Have you guys… talked about this, or are you just making assumptions?”

Emma scoffed. “Mary Margaret Blanchard believes in a lot of things: love at first sight, honesty and the innate goodness of people. But magic… it’s not an easy concept for her.”

“Well, she’s going to have to get used to it,” Regina insisted, “especially if her cousin and one of her best friends has it.”

“I guess,” Emma admitted, letting the curtain fall from her hands. “But… I just don’t know if I can do this. Or if I can control it. I don’t want to scare her again.”

Regina had one last card up her sleeve and she played it with relish. “Maybe… magic lessons would help you gain better control over what you can do. Then you won’t have to be afraid anymore. And you won’t have to worry about Mary Margaret being afraid either. She’s your family and she loves you. Surely she’d want you to be your best version of yourself.”

Emma leaned back against the wall as she considered Regina’s offer. Regina remembered Emma’s nonchalance at the society party the other night – what if it had all been false bravado to cover up her insecurities? Regina was no stranger to the concept of faking it until you made it. She’d been a fool to dismiss Emma as shallow and uninterested when the girl was clearly dealing with her own demons.   
At last Emma put Regina out of her misery: “I’ll do it,” she said, “but not for you, for Mal or for myself. I’m doing this for my cousin.”

A more selfish part of Regina wanted to say, I don’t care why you’re agreeing to this as long as I get my magic lessons. But instead she smiled and said, “Your reasons are your own. I can respect that.”

Emma nodded. “Good. So we have an understanding then. You can deliver the happy news to Mal, if you don’t mind. She gives me the creeps.”

“Yes,” Regina agreed, allowing her smile to become dangerous. “I’ll handle Mal for you. She can be a little intimidating.”

Emma scoffed but said nothing more and Regina took her leave. She doubted they would ever become close friends, but at least they were on the same page now. And if Regina was going to get what she wanted, it might be more prudent to go about collecting potential allies instead of just making friends. And maybe once Emma becomes more confident with her magic, we’ll get along better, Regina added to herself. I should at least try to get along with her for Mary Margaret’s sake and for Mal’s.

For the moment Regina had other things to worry about than Emma’s reluctance with magic. A letter had appeared in her mailbox overnight summoning her to the Muse Society headquarters. Regina gritted her teeth and went, head bowed, already rehearsing an apology in her head for skipping out on the welcoming ceremony. Jefferson greeted her at the door with a nod of encouragement but he wasn’t allowed to stick around while Victor lectured her about how she was now “bound” to the “sacred duty” of her chosen society. With every word he spoke, Regina grew more and more impatient.

“And what about the sacred duty I have to my own powers?” Regina cut in when Victor finally paused to take a breath. “I didn’t skip out on your little welcome to the club party for the hell of it. Have you even considered that this isn’t what I want? That the thought of not being able to control my magic makes me sick to my stomach? You’re the leader of one of the Ten. If you can’t manage an ounce of compassion, then they chose the wrong man for the job.” Keep talking, she told herself. Maybe he’ll get mad and kick you out.

“Be that as it may,” Victor said, struggling to regain control of the conversation, “you can’t just quit one society and join another at the drop of a hat. That’s not the way things work. Be mad at me all you want, but I don’t make the rules. I just enforce them.” He smiled but the gesture did not reach all the way up to his eyes. 

Well, it was worth a shot. “I never said anything about quitting. I only want to exercise my rights to further magical training as described in the last footnote of the student handbook.” She looked up just in time to see Victor’s face turn red with anger. “Why is that such a surprise? If there’s a provision for it, then there must be a history of other societies poaching magical students…”

Victor slammed his fist down on the desk, making her jump. “That’s enough, Miss Mills. If you want to… ‘exercise your rights’ as you put it, I can’t stop you. But it’s not my job to make it easier for you. You may have magic, but you’re a member of the Muse Society now. And until you’ve proven yourself to us, I’m putting you on probation.”

Regina’s stomach sank but she forced herself to nod. “Fine. Probation.” I guess I deserve that. But I’ll be damned if I let this little cretin order me around. If he wants me in his secret society so badly, then fine. I’ll make him regret it.

“And since you couldn’t be bothered to attend our little welcome ceremony, you didn’t get any say in your assignment for the mixer this weekend,” Victor continued. 

Ugh, she thought. Next time I want first pick. “So what will I be doing?”

Victor smiled fully, a sinister gesture. “You’re on the first shift behind the bar,” he informed her. “I hope you know how to mix drinks.”

“Give me an instruction manual and I can do just about anything,” Regina said breezily. Is that the worst he can come up with?

“And you’ll be receiving twenty demerit points: ten for skipping the welcome ceremony and ten for your insubordination just now.” He chuckled mirthlessly. “Congratulations, Miss Mills. You’re the first new recruit to fall into the negatives.”

Big whoop, Regina thought. I hope I end up with -100 points if it will piss you off even more, you big bully. “Whatever. Can I go now?”

“Our next society meeting is Thursday evening,” Victor said, glaring at her from across his desk. Regina was already on her feet and moving toward the door. “Don’t be late. And don’t wear those glasses to the mixer. People want to see a hot girl behind the bar, not a wallflower.”

That’s the thing about assholes, Regina realised triumphantly. Sometimes you have to let them keep talking until they get enough rope to hang themselves with. “Did I detect a note of sexual harassment in that last statement?” She raised an eyebrow and gave Victor a withering look. The jerk had the decency to squirm under her stare. “Hmm. I’d keep an eye on that if I were you. Unless you want me to report you to the council for abuse of power.”

Victor shrugged. “You can’t prove anything.”

Regina paused by the door to Victor’s office and crossed her arms. “Don’t try me, Victor. I don’t know you and you sure as hell don’t know me. You don’t know what I’m capable of. Hell, even I won’t know what I’m capable of until I start my training. It’s in the best interest of everyone that I learn to control what I can do. Why is that so hard for everyone to wrap their heads around?”

Victor relented ever so slightly. “Fine. Go learn your magic tricks. But if I catch you selling Muse Society secrets to that harpy who runs the Congress, then so help me…”

Regina scoffed one last time. “How can I give away your precious secrets when I still don’t even know what the Muse Society is for?” she pointed out. “I don’t know any secrets right now. I’m just a girl who’s trying to find herself. So you can either help me or get out of my way.”

She left before Victor had a chance to say anything more. Pompous little bastard, she thought as she trounced out of the building and down the front steps. He’s just like that jerk who was the treasurer on my student council in high school, thinking he could control all of us because he controlled the money. Boys like that like throwing their weight around and hearing themselves speak. But I’ll be damned if I let someone like that push me around again. That’s not what I came here for.

As she stalked her way across campus, Regina passed by the school oracle again. Its incongruous presence still bothered her every time she left the English lecture hall. Most days it was easy to ignore it. She would busy herself chatting with Belle or Robin but today she was alone. Perhaps that was why it took her so long to notice that something with the oracle was amiss. What the hell? She wondered as she walked up to it. That’s not right. The oracle’s tripod had been knocked to the ground, but its spindly legs were still intact. What a curious old thing. You’d think one strong gust of wind would have blown it to smithereens but it’s still here. It’s not even broken. Too bad. Maybe if someone had broken it they could finally cart it away and replace it with something more aesthetically pleasing.

Regina pushed the damaged oracle from her mind but as she turned to go, something else caught her eye. There was a splash of something that looked like green paint on the weathered bronze. What now? Did some graffiti artist have some fun with the old thing before they knocked it over? A shiver ran down Regina’s spine. There it was again. That cloying feeling of Wrongness. She took out her phone and snapped another picture. 

Back in her dorm room, Regina compared the two pictures she’d taken: one of the oracle at the beginning of the semester and the one from today. Had it only been a few weeks? She shivered again and put her phone in its charger. Enough weirdness for one day. Time to tackle that mountain of homework.

****

Regina’s school week was unremarkable. Already she was three weeks into the semester but she was balancing the workload just fine. Excelling in academic settings had never been a problem for her. 

But excelling in social settings was more of a challenge. She’d never had trouble making friends when she was younger but after the car crash – after losing Daniel and her mother – an invisible wall had sprung up around her. It was simple enough to make a new acquaintance out of a classmate or a dorm mate, but making a lasting friendship was proving to be harder than Regina remembered it being. She had Mary Margaret and Kathryn and Mal, but Regina wondered if she was going about things the wrong way. Collecting allies instead of friends, manipulating people into helping her… that was Cora Mills’s philosophy, not Regina’s. And as much as Regina wanted to live up to her mother’s legacy, she couldn’t do it by becoming a clone of Cora. She had to be herself, whoever the hell that was. 

But first she had to put up with an evening of tending bar for the Muse Society mixer. She didn’t wear her glasses because she’d already planned on not wearing them, not because Victor told her to. Screw Victor, she thought. I’ll be the best damn bartender he’s ever seen. Then maybe he’ll get off my back.

It wasn’t that tending bar was a terrible job, just a demanding one. The other Muse Society members got easier tasks like greeting people at the door and taking their coats or making sure the buffet was freshly stocked. But tending bar also gave Regina a chance to talk to people. Maybe I’m doing alright on this socializing thing after all, she thought to herself as the crowd thinned out after the initial rush for drinks. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Ruby, the girl she’d met at the Masquerade League booth two weeks ago was already on her second beer and dancing enthusiastically to a playlist curated by Regina’s mentor Jefferson. The music had been good – the right mix of popular dance tunes and retro throwbacks – so good that she found herself shuffling her feet behind the bar. Maybe I’ll even dance when my shift is over, she thought. If I could only find someone to dance with…

Robin sidled up to the makeshift bar and leaned up against the high counter, a welcome distraction. He looks good tonight, she thought, eyeing up his fitted t-shirt and jeans. She smiled a greeting and came over to join him. “What’ll it be?” she asked. “We have nothing but the finest bottom shelf liquor and off-brand cola.”

Robin chuckled and ducked his head. “Off-brand cola? Well. I guess I don’t need to ask if it’s Coke or Pepsi then.”

Regina made an apologetic gesture. “Victor didn’t exactly shell out for the good stuff. But I can still make a mean cocktail.”

“And ordinarily I would have one, but this evening I’m to remain sober while my friends enjoy themselves,” Robin confessed. “I signed up for Foot Patrol.”

Of course. The campus organization that gave students a safe walk back to their rooms after dark if they requested it. “Just doing your part to be a good citizen?” Regina teased. “Look at you. You’re a regular Robin Hood.”

Robin sighed and let his shoulders droop. “If I had a dollar for every time someone called me Robin Hood…”

“…You’d have enough to give to the poor?” she guessed. “Oh, come on,” she added when she saw the look on his face. “You walked right into that one.”

He grinned ruefully, his blue eyes twinkling. “Touché. I’ll have one off-brand soda, please.”

Regina preened triumphantly. “Since you asked so nicely.” She poured him a generous cup, careful not to let a single drop go to waste. “Here you are. One off-brand soda, my specialty.”

Robin accepted it gratefully and gave her a nod after taking a sip. “If I close my eyes,” he said, “I can’t even tell the difference between this and a proper Coke.”

“Let’s go with that, then,” Regina agreed with a light laugh. She took a quick glance from side to side to make sure there were no other customers before speaking again. “So, how’s the party?” she inquired. “I haven’t had a chance to really enjoy it since I’m stuck behind the bar until my relief gets here.”

“It’s been fine,” Robin told her, “but you’re not missing much. It’s a pretty typical college party only with more secrecy than usual.”

“I wouldn’t know. I haven’t been invited to very many parties yet,” she admitted. 

Robin was taken aback. “We’ll have to remedy that. As soon as your replacement gets here, I’m asking you for a dance.”

Regina stared. Do I look that desperate for a dance? Then again, there are much worse people than Robin to dance with. “He doesn’t get here until 12,” she said. “I doubt you want to wait that long.”

It was only a little after 11PM, but Robin didn’t seem to mind. “For a dance with a girl as lovely as you, I’d wait ages,” he said in a playfully dramatic voice that made her giggle. The sound of her own laughter caught her off guard. When was the last time a boy had made her laugh like that? 

“You’re on. If you can stand the wait.” She gave him a flirtatious look and turned to handle the next customer. She expected him to get bored and leave – a new lineup of patrons had materialized while they’d been talking – but Robin didn’t budge from his place at the corner of the bar. After Regina worked her way through the orders, Robin requested another cola and they fell into conversation again. He was easy to talk to, she discovered. After exhausting the topic of schoolwork, the conversation drifted off in the direction of their mutual acquaintances and upcoming events on campus. Regina found herself nodding along as he spoke, though perhaps it was just his English accent that was making her more eager than usual to listen. 

“The Masquerade League is holding the next mixer, you know,” Robin told her. “I was thinking I’ll sign up for bar duty. It’s a great way to get to know people.” His caught her eyes with his own and smiled again, showing off his dimples.

Gosh he’s cute when he’s flirting, she pondered. Scratch that: he’s cute all the time. No harm in flirting back a little. “Well, if you get stuck behind the bar I promise I’ll come and talk to you,” she returned with smile, resting her elbows against the counter and leaning closer, “if only to make up for you taking pity on me tonight.”

Robin chuckled again, holding her gaze all the while. “Or maybe I’m looking for a bartender to unload all my problems on,” he suggested.

Regina feigned innocence, pretending to be oblivious to his flirting. It was doing her a world of good to talk to someone cute, if only to help her forget all the crappy things that had happened lately. “I’ve only been taking Intro to Psych for a month,” she pointed out, “so I don’t think I’m qualified for such a task.”

“Goodness.” Robin leaned back a little, cocking his head to the side and never dropping her gaze. “What was Victor thinking assigning you to such an important post?” His tone was light and teasing but he regretted his flippant words the moment he saw her face fall. She ducked her head and gave it a little shake as if rattling her brain a little would make her forget. “Oh Regina,” he murmured. “I was only joking…”  
“It’s fine,” she said, forcing her mouth back into something smile-shaped. 

“No, it’s not.” Robin leaned in again and lowered his voice. “I touched a nerve, didn’t I.”

Regina wasn’t sure who she felt sorrier for: herself for letting the conversation fall off the rails or Robin, who now had to watch while his scheme for hitting on her went up in smoke. It was times like this when Regina’s instincts took over. Robin wasn’t like Victor or the other society people. He liked to flirt and be friendly but there was no ulterior motive behind it that she could detect – and no Wrongness, thank God. Regina didn’t trust easily, but given the choice, she was more willing to trust Robin than Victor. “I’m being punished,” she admitted in a low voice. “For insubordination.”

Robin raised an eyebrow in surprise. “My, my. You must be quite the little rebel.” But his playful expression gave way to something more serious. “I hope Victor isn’t giving you a hard time. I don’t know him personally but I’ve heard he’s a bit of a git.”

Regina chuckled humourlessly. “Git is too tame a word.”

“I’m sorry,” Robin started to say but Regina waved him off. 

“You had no way of knowing.” She shrugged and reached out to refill his drink. “How about that: you ended up hearing about your bartender’s troubles instead of unloading your own.”

Robin’s grin returned, his face flooding with relief. “Touché again. I bow down to your superior battle skills, Miss Mills.”

Regina rolled her eyes. “I prefer Regina.”

Robin nodded. “Regina it is.”

Regina dragged her eyes away from his for long enough to see Jefferson approaching. “Ah. It looks like my relief is here at last.” She checked her watch. Jefferson was only a few minutes late but a prickle of annoyance still pulled at her. “Are you still interested in that dance or did I scare you off?” 

“I don’t scare easily,” Robin assured her. He took one last swig of his drink and tossed the empty cup in the trash. “Shall we?” When he extended his hand, Regina’s eyes fell to the tattoo in his right forearm. She’d always been envious of people with tattoos – not envious of the tattoos, but of the nerve it took to get one. “It’s an old family coat of arms,” he told her as he led the way to the dancefloor. He spun her around playfully to the beat of the music and stepped in closer.

“Was it painful?” she asked. “I’m always jealous of people who have tattoos…” she trailed off and shrugged, concentrating on her dancing instead. Someone nearby elbowed her, forcing her to slide closer to Robin on the crowded dancefloor. “Ow,” she muttered darkly, glaring at the girl who bumped her. “I’ve seen figure skaters who flail less than that.”

“May I?” Robin held out his arm again and she nodded, permitting him to draw her closer. “Can’t have any unruly elbows getting in the way of our dance.” His hand lingered at the small of her back but to his credit it didn’t wander as they swayed together to the beat. “And yes, by the way. It was painful. But worth it in the end. Are you thinking of getting one?”

“Nah.” She shook her head. “I’m too chicken.” She didn’t tell him the real reason. She’d already told him too much tonight. That as much as she admired the artistry behind tattoos, she wasn’t keen on putting any more permanent marks on her body. The car crash had already done that for her.

“I find that hard to believe. You seem like the bold and audacious type,” he surmised. 

Of course he thought that after hearing about her mini rebellion against Victor. But before Regina had a chance to come up with a snappy retort, someone bumped into her again. “Watch where you’re going,” she snapped as someone grabbed at her arm. But this time she recognized the interloper: Ruby from the Masquerade League, drunk off her ass and still clutching her bottle of beer. 

“Ugh,” Ruby moaned, clinging to Regina’s arm to steady herself. “Where’s the bathroom?”

“It’s down the hall,” Regina said, pointing over her shoulder. Ruby swayed violently and Regina reached out to steady her. “Forget that. You’ll never make it in time.”

“Out the back door?” Robin suggested. 

“Yes,” Regina agreed hastily. “There’s a trashcan out there…”

They each took hold of one of Ruby’s arms and guided her out of the house. They made it just in time – the screen door had barely banged shut behind them before Ruby was vomiting spectacularly into the garbage. Regina grimaced, reaching out to hold the poor girl’s hair back. “Let it all out,” she murmured in what she hoped was a soothing tone of voice. “You’ll feel better once you do.”

“I’ll see if I can get her some water,” Robin said, before disappearing back into the house.

Ruby slumped against the trashcan, wiping her mouth and looking morose. “This party sucks,” she groaned.

I couldn’t agree more, Regina thought as she looked up to see Robin returning with a bottle of water. Robin’s been the only bright spot in this dull evening.

Between the two of them, Regina and Robin managed to get Ruby on her feet and back to her dorm room without any more trouble. “She’ll be fine after a good night’s rest,” Robin said knowingly. 

“Oh?” Regina looked askance at him. “Does she do this often?”

Robin grimaced. “Only when the mixer is at a society that she hates.”

Regina felt her shoulders slump. Great. How did I end up in a society that people hate? Is my luck really that shitty?

Robin was quick to correct himself. “She doesn’t hate you, of course. She just hates Victor.”

Regina rolled her eyes. “That makes two of us.”

“Or three,” Robin amended. “I can’t say I’m very fond of the man either. Not after knowing he treated two of my friends poorly.”

Clearly there was more to the Ruby and Victor story than Robin was letting on, but when he didn’t elaborate she let the subject drop. “Do you have to go back on patrol?” she asked, changing gears completely. “Ferrying drunk people around is supposed to be your job, right?”

“Helping anyone who doesn’t want to walk alone is my job,” Robin corrected. “What about you? Shall we walk back to the party together?”

The party. Regina had almost forgotten about it. “Ruby was right about one thing: the party sucked. I think I’ll head back to the dorm. But… if you feel like your job is on the line, I’ll let you walk with me.”

Robin bowed and offered her his arm. “I’d be honoured.”

Regina, charmed by his playfulness, took it. “Why thank you, kind sir. You are a true gentleman.”

They both laughed at the silliness of it and wandered off down the path that led back into the heart of campus. After three weeks, Regina was starting to get to know the different turns in the twisty pathways and the location of the outbuildings, but sometimes – especially at night when the ancient trees blocked much of the moonlight – it was easy to get disoriented. The came upon another path when they circled around the library and out of nowhere a figure emerged from the treeline and staggered toward them. The girl looked half-wild with tangled hair and muddy stains on the hem of her blue dress. She waved to them and Regina dropped Robin’s arm and they both ran to her.

“I know you… it’s Ashley, isn’t it?” Robin asked, his giddiness from moments ago already gone and replaced by something more serious. “Are you alright?”

“You have to help me!” the girl wailed, wrapping her arms around herself and sinking to the ground. “He’s gone! My boyfriend, he just… disappeared! Into thin air!”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm tagging this as Outlaw Queen because there will definitely be some OQ action but we don't meet Robin until Chapter 2.


End file.
